Chapter of a Lost Future
by Tiro
Summary: Sequel to A Second Chance. Diablos and the gang are back, this time for a last painful fight against a Dumbledore from a time when war the least of people's problems. Rated M for violence in some chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter of a Lost Future **

**Summary**: Sequel to A Second Chance. Diablos and the gang are back, this time for a last painful fight against a Dumbledore from a time when war the least of people's problems.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Evil!Dumbledore, Gryffindor-bashing, siding with Voldemort-fic, time-travelling mentioned, violence and so on.

Plus you probably need to read A Second Chance to understand what the hell's going on.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Harry Potter, but Diablos is kinda my own character. I morphed him into my own character. Plus I do own Salerna, his adoring wife Cissi, Orator and a few others.

The long-awaited sequel! Enjoy it!

-o-

**UPDATED 2010-11-09**

-o-

**Chapter One**

**1997  
Somewhere in England**

The night was darker than most, no light seen for miles beside the weak light from the moon. Suddenly, a wind. Not gentle caressing the high grass, no it was violent, like a storm at sea, ripping the ground up and then a light, so blinding you might believe a star had decided to crash right there, right at that very moment.

Four blinding lights rushing onto the ground, and all was silent once more. The wind quieted down, vanished, and the darkness once more took over. The clouds shifted, bringing the moon out more, and a gentle blue light was cast over the ground.

Now there are movements. One rises, grabs the other two, shakes them hard.

"Come on, we have to get out of here!" the first one hissed. "While he's still out cold!"

"Wha-? Where are we?"

"Hurry!"

The other two now up, they raced across the plain, away from the fourth. Now feeling panic yet contentment, one raised his voice:

"Which year? Which year did we land in?"

"Does it matter?" the first one replied. He was older. "Just let us get away before the Ministry comes or something!"

"We have to get to them, to him," the third one said, speaking for the first time. "We have to find Diablos!"

When dawn rose, so did the fourth one. Staggering up, looking around and then a wide grin almost cut the face in half. For safety, he took out his wand and swung it lightly; the date showed up and he looked around once more.

"I did it. I managed!" Laughter broke out, craziness mixed within it. The laugh of a madman. "The world shall be mine!"

A moment later he vanished.

-o-

**Florence, Italy  
Potter Manor**

Sixteen-year old Harry Potter looked up from his book when Arsenic gasped from the second floor. A moment later, he met Hermione's and Draco's eyes over the brim of the book before he lowered it to his lap.

"Arsenic, are you okay?" Hermione called out a moment later.

Within a few moments, the woman was running down the stairs and stopped as she reached the ending, her eyes wide and she sucked in a deep breath just as the doors banged open to the library. The three teens whipped their heads there.

Odium, same condition, and the two stared at each other. Odium's arms trembled lightly, and the three teens wondered just what was going on.

"He's here," Arsenic suddenly whispered, a hand to her chest as if that would calm her racing heart. "He's here, oh god, _he's here_…"

Odium did not seem to find any words and neither did she; they just stared at each other some more and then, as if something cleared to them, they both gasped out:

"Diablos!"

Odium turned, ran for the stairs and Arsenic followed. Worried, Harry, Hermione and Draco rushed to follow.

They had been home for a week now, their fifth year finished and a whole summer before sixth year began. They had started easy, just being with each other and doing most of the homework so they could relax later. But now Harry felt anything but relaxed. There were few things that made Arsenic and Odium panic in any way, so he had to wonder just what they had felt to create that expression on their faces.

The five arrived at Diablos' office at the same time and rushed inside.

Diablos was not sitting by his desk, nor was he in the room. But the door to the balcony was open, and the long curtains moved softly with the warm wind. Harry was first out after Odium and Arsenic.

The man stood leaned against the railing, looking out over the land that belonged to Potter Manor. His black hair fell down his back gently, trickling down his chest and stubborn strands sticking up. The red eyes were clouded, the blue faded away for the moment.

"I know," he said before either of the two could open their mouths. His head dropped, eyes staring at his clasped hands. They were white due to the pressure and he eased up. "God, I know…"

"Know what?" Harry asked. "What's going on? Dia?"

"He's here," Diablos repeated. "The fucker's here. I can feel it even here. His magic makes my skin crawl… feels like I have ash in my mouth and fire in my lungs."

"More like fire burning through our veins," Arsenic said. "Hatred filling our cores."

"Who is it?" the teen said. Hermione and Draco held his hands softly but firm. He squeezed, seeking reassurance.

Diablos turned to look at him.

"Dumbledore," he said softly.

"Dumbledore? He's been dead for like two years," Harry said.

"Not… this time's Dumbledore," Odium said.

Arsenic looked at the children and gave them a weak smile.

"_Our_ time's Dumbledore," she said gently.

-o-

A half-hour later Harry looked up to see Diablos rub his forehead, frowning and releasing a hissed breath. Worried, the teen got up and walked up to his uncle. Being a bit taller than the man, which still freaked Harry out occasionally, gave him a tiny advantage when he peered at Diablos' face.

"Do you have a headache, Dia?" he asked softly, hand resting on Diablos' that was covering his forehead.

"Yes," the man replied, knowing it was useless to lie.

"How bad?"

"Bad enough."

Diablos sighed and rubbed his face with his hands, realizing it was a waste of time to just stand doing nothing and walked over to the couch. Draco and Hermione had gone home for the day while Arsenic and Odium rushed away to get some things, leaving the two Potters alone in the manor. Tom was not at home, but Diablos suspected he would come soon enough and with a foul temper following. Tom, if anyone, would go crazier than he, Arsenic and Odium had done at the realization that their Dumbledore had managed to crawl here. If the former Dark Lord had the chance, he would probably try kicking the crazy old man down to hell himself.

He sat down and put his head in his hands. He felt Harry sit down next to him, gently massaging his uncle's neck. Harry felt the tension and moved his hands from being on the neck to the shoulders, kneading firmly and Diablos released a groan as the fingers dug into the knots. He let his head hang drop, elbows resting on his knees and his hands hanging.

After ten minutes Diablos felt boneless. He was lying on the couch, Harry holding an ice-pack to one of his temples and helping himself to some tea and biscuits Dora had arrived with.

"Not too many, it's just an hour to dinner," Diablos mumbled.

"Yeah, yeah."

"I mean it, brat."

"You don't seem very intimidating right now, Dia."

Diablos just groaned. He took the ice-pack from his nephew and pressed it down harder.

"That's not normal," Harry said.

"My head hurts," Diablos complained. "I can't decide whether to continue to have a headache or go ahead and just scream."

"I wouldn't recommend the screaming," Harry said. "It'll only jar your head, and make the headache worse."

"Damn you brat for being right."

"I'm always right."

Diablos only snorted.

-o-

A crash made Harry jump and he whirled around to stare at the door.

"Seems like Tom's home," Diablos commented, earning another whirl from his nephew and Harry's green eyes staring at him instead.

"Damnit! Fuck! Hell-spawn! I swear to Merlin, to the Muggles fucking GOD, I will KILL HIM!" Another crash. "I'll tear his tongue out!" A vase perhaps? "Then shred his arms down to tiny pieces of meat and feed it to stray dogs!" That sounded like one of those horrid paintings ripping. Diablos couldn't feel very sorry for that. "Hack of his legs with a butter-knife! And then his eyes, and carve out his heart with a spoon!" Hey, was that a Robin Hood; Prince of Thieves-rip off? "And the remains I will send straight to hell and tell the devil to have fun with!"

The doors banged open and Tom came in, hyperventilating. It came sparks from his wand, magic radiating off him in waves and his eyes nearly glowing. He flung himself down on an armchair and glared at the wall, jaw clenching and anger mixed with pure hatred radiating from him.

"Evening to you too," the raven-haired man said gently. "How was your day?"

"Fucking brilliant until he showed up," Tom growled.

"I do hope you didn't destroy the entire hall," Diablos said. "Dora would be most upset if you did." Meaning she would most likely try to cut his head off.

"Not that stupid." And yes, Tom was painfully aware what she would try to do. "Destroyed that painting with the ugly horse though; I always hated it."

"I bore no great love for it either, but it at least made it look less barren. I guess we have to go shopping for a new one."

"Then at least take a motif that looks good," he said and finally looked over at them. He blinked, some of the anger vanishing. "Diablos? What's up with the ice-pack?"

"My head is slowly being hacked open by a most stubborn creature armoured with preferably an axe or two," Diablos supplied.

"He has a headache," Harry translated when Tom looked confused.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place?" the former Dark Lord asked.

"Oh, I don't know… it sounded so boring."

Tom finally slumped back and let the wand drop. It clattered onto the floor, vibrated once, then lay still. He ran a hand over his face and sighed. Once his hair had been long but since a half-year back it ran short and spiky, a style surprisingly fitting. His eyes were still as blue, if not more and some say they shone in the dark. For now he was wearing simple black pants with a white shirt, having already shed his robe in the hall. Or maybe he ripped that one too apart. One never knew with Tommie boy.

Diablos however, was still in his robes despite the heat and that he was at home. Today's robe was black with red at the edges, looking uncomfortable and warm. Harry looked down at his uncle and saw his eyes half-lidded but the hand still pressing tightly to his forehead.

He had already gotten a double-dose of a headache potion, yet it didn't help?

"Dumbledore-headaches can never be cured," Diablos suddenly said to him. "You just have to endure them."

"I say hail to that," Tom muttered and Harry saw him rub his temples.

"Tea?"

Dora put the tray down and Harry smiled his thanks. Before she had taken enough for him but apparently she had prepared to Diablos and Tom as well.

"Is that mint?" Tom asked wearily.

"I think so," Harry said. It smelt wonderful. "Would you like a cup, Tom?"

"Like? Love it is the word!" he said and struck a fist up. Harry rolled his eyes at the man's antics. He used to wonder why Diablos had brought Tom back from hell considering he had barely asked him any favours. He had wanted to ask, but Diablos had beaten him to it with saying the man was entertaining and it would be a waste to have him in hell. Plus it would irk their time's Dumbledore if he ever found out. And now, with him being here and all, he probably would.

"And you, Dia?" Harry continued, shaking himself out of his thoughts.

"I can have a bit." His voice was quiet, his eyes fully closed now. Harry narrowed his eyes; he had heard a bit about Albus Dumbledore from Diablos' time, but now… it made him hate the man all the more.

Tbc…

* * *

A small taste of the sequel! Tell what you think about it, and I felt so good writing about Harry and Diablos again!

Chapter two: Dumbledore begins to gather people for his personal crusade, and Diablos gets a visit from three people he thought he would never see again…

Look forward to it!

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter of a Lost Future **

**Summary**: Sequel to A Second Chance. Diablos and the gang are back, this time for a last painful fight against a Dumbledore from a time when war the least of people's problems.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Evil!Dumbledore, Gryffindor-bashing, siding with Voldemort-fic, time-travelling mentioned, violence and so on.

Plus you probably need to read A Second Chance to understand what's the hell's going on.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Harry Potter, but Diablos is kinda my own character. I morphed him into my own character. Plus I do own Salerna, his adoring wife Cissi, Orator and a few others.

-

Thanks for all the reviews, and sorry for the lateness!

Enjoy this new chapter!

-

**Chapter**** Two**

Alastor Moody was considered crazy by the Ministry and generally the Wizarding World. But a few, those who believed Voldemort had assassinated Dumbledore and seized control over the Ministry, followed him. The Weasley family for once but with the loss of five of their children. Four children they had thrown away, one they thought was dead. Then came former Order-members that believed one day Dumbledore would rise again and spread his wonderful light at the world.

Never did Moody, or his so called friends, think it would become true.

Moody was setting up a plan to try assassinating Diablos who he despised almost more than Voldemort, and he had tried ever since Dumbledore was murdered. So far, he had been rather unsuccessful. Diablos seemed to always be five steps ahead of him, and if he wasn't, someone else close to him was. Moody was getting fairly annoyed with the whole ordeal.

"Alastor Mad-Eye Moody."

He stopped at hearing _that_ voice. He whirled around as well as he could and stared with wide eyes at the person before him. If he could, he would kneel.

"Albus," he whispered. The man had come back to life!

"Not the Albus you know," he said with a wide grin. "A stronger one, Alastor. One who will take care of this world."

-

Diablos walked into the living room, frowning as he seemed to listen. Harry, Hermione, Draco and Padma looked up from their homework, the Weasley twins and Neville from the chess-game. Luna was drawing pictures in the air with her hand, humming off-tune. Ginny was listening to some Muggle music Cissi had bought her.

"Dia, what's wrong?" Harry asked.

"I swear to Merlin I heard a crash," Diablos mumbled. "Maybe from the garden." He crossed the living room to the doors leading outdoors, pulling them open. He looked left, then right and then went straight out.

"Dia!" The wind had made their papers fly everywhere. The teens all ran up to catch them, Fred and George waving their wands around (albeit carefully because they knew what they would get from Hermione and Padma if they set the papers on fire). Once they had some kind of order, Harry ran to the doors and closed them almost fully, not letting the full wind inside. "Come on guys!" he called and slipped through the small opening.

Diablos moved through the vineyard, sighing and wondering why he had one. Then he remembered Dora was a bad-ass on making heavenly good wine and promptly shut about getting rid of it. He liked her wine, thank you very much.

There.

He frowned at seeing the three figures moving cautiously towards him, their hoods making it hard to see their faces. He pulled out his wand, held it out ready to fight. He was always ready to fight when someone was on his property without him knowing it. But he recognized their magic… his own called out for theirs.

Suddenly he met one of their eyes, and Diablos stopped. He stared into those eyes, and without noticing it his wand fell from his now nerveless fingers.

"Dia!"

With a halt, the group of children stopped short behind Diablos and Harry saw his uncle's wand on the ground. The figures stopped, staring right back at the man. Then…

"Diablos?" one of them said cautiously, stepping forward almost like in hope. "Is that you?"

"It's you guys," Diablos whispered and the three pulled off their hoods. The children stared.

Bill, Fred and George Weasley had finally reached their friends.

-

"I need Tonks."

"But she's family with Sirius Black," Moody said, "she would never side against him."

"We just need to plant a few false memories in her brain to make her believe he's evil," Dumbledore said. "I'll see to it and that she comes to our side. She's useful."

"Of course, my lord."

Dumbledore enjoyed the title. He deserved being called lord. He was one. He was going to be the supreme ruler of the Wizarding World forever.

"What's all that?" he asked, motioning to a stack of papers. In the same moment, Diablos' eyes grew colder and Bill from the future drew back, gazing at him worriedly.

"Oh, that… plans for an assassination."

"On who?"

"Harry Potter's uncle, Diablos Potter."

Dumbledore stopped moving. He felt rage and fear mix together. Diablos closed his eyes in Italy, and stretched his mind out.

"Diablos… Potter?" he asked. He saw before him a white mask, a wide grin and blood coating the earthen floor and filling the air. A monster amongst monsters. A devil walking the earth.

"Yes, the uncle," Moody said, confused.

"In my time… Harry Potter didn't have an uncle. Did you mean a brother to James?"

"Yes. Diablos Potter was blood-adopted at the age of two by Mary and John Potter, 1956. What do you mean Potter didn't have an uncle?"

"But I do know a Diablos," Dumbledore said. "And he was a child of the dark."

"A child of the dark?" Moody gasped. A reluctant grin on Diablos' lips and he muttered something underneath his breath. The three Weasleys from the future, Arsenic, Odium and Tom looked at him as his eyes fluttered once, then showed his eye-white. They held their breath.

"In the end, he managed to get the top position," Dumbledore growled. "He became a Dark Lord, and managed to kill off better part of my Order. He… he used the same machine as me." The aged man rose up, and suddenly barked out a laughter. "He went back in time! He went back in time to undo my work, and destroy all the peace I had built up!"

"_And where was that peace?"_

The bodiless voice made them whip around. The room was empty expect for themselves.

"Who are you?!" Dumbledore shouted, yet he knew that already. The brat knew such tricks…

"_I'm wounded, Albus. Can't you recognize my voice? Or has your old ear__s finally failed you?"_

"Diablos," Dumbledore spat out. "Did you think you would win in the end?!" He tried appearing confident, but for Diablos to manage a spell like this, locating them and coming in the exact right moment…

Impossible.

"_For a while, yeah, I did think so. I'm not wrong about that either. It will just take a bit longer than I thought, but I will kill you."_

"You failed for all those years, think you can manage now?!"

"_All those years? Didn't you mean those two years? And who would imagine, the wise and strong Albus Dumbledore having trouble with little me, a __seventeen-year old brat? I'm not that brat anymore, Albus… so you should fear me."_

"Fear you?! Hah! Tell me why!"

Suddenly, a flare of magic and then they couldn't breathe. Dumbledore felt rage and anger rise all around him, swipes of pure magic in the room and a wind started.

"_Don't tempt me, old man. Don't."_

And then the magic was gone, as well as their strength. Dumbledore barely managed to keep himself on his feet as he stared around the room wildly. How the hell had the brat managed to grow so strong?!

-

The children tried to continue doing what they had been doing prior to the three Weasleys arrival but they found themselves straying off to where they were together with Diablos, Odium, Arsenic and Tom. Harry had noted they had a couple of minutes stopped doing anything and just watched Diablos. The man's head had fallen down for a minute or two before it whipped up again, blood dripping from his nose. Arsenic had grown pale with rage, and heatedly whispered something to him to which he had responded with a shrug and accepted the handkerchief Tom had given him.

Arsenic was now tending to some wounds the Weasleys had received before coming to this time, while Bill filled Diablos in what had happened. For the three, it had been a few days. For Diablos… it had been over 40 years.

Fred constantly dodged the woman's attempts to take the fake eye out, claiming it was fine. George sat mostly quiet, cradling his broken wrist to his chest. Diablos was just finishing up with the listening and nodded once to Bill before he turned to heal the broken bone.

Harry noted his uncle was gentle with them, gentler than he had seen before when Diablos healed. The Weasleys seemed impressed by it, which suggested he hadn't been able to do that in the other time. They all noted Fred and George sitting close to each other, just as they had always done but there was something different about the slightly older versions. Something weary and tired, yet… they were so close. Almost like they were one soul sharing two bodies.

Fred cradled his twin's wrist after Diablos was done, making sure it was fine before finally letting Diablos have a look at his face. The raven-haired man prodded but never actually moved the fake eye out, for which Fred seemed grateful.

"What's the verdict, doctor?" Fred finally asked, grinning.

"Well, you're going to survive… unfortunately," Diablos said with a smile, but they knew he wasn't serious. "You need to clean the eye, Fred."

"I know. I want to do it myself."

"I know that. I'll have some things brought here for that, as you probably forgot bringing anything."

"I don't carry any of that with me when I fight," the man protested. "That's just stupid!"

"It's never stupid!" Arsenic said and smacked him over the head.

"Ow! When the hell did you outgrow us?!"

"I did that when I was what, five years old?"

The two glared at each other while Bill sighed in misery and the others shook their heads.

-

Dumbledore smiled evilly behind his hand as he looked over the room. He had people now, supporters, worshippers. He was beginning to get back on track again, having important people who could sneak into the lives of the evil and dark.

But still, there was the matter of Diablos, now Diablos Potter. Of course he would have found the Potters and gets taken in, then taking Harry from the Dursleys. He did not want the child to grow up as he did. When Diablos first came to Hogwarts, it had been so easily to lie to the child. This quiet, resigned child who did not want to go back to the Dursleys yet was being forced each year... until his fifth year. The brat had the nerve to say he did not want to fight. As if he had a choice!

He had killed his own relatives, and appeared a little while later, as one of Voldemort's soldiers. Diablos had been the ultimate failure, Dumbledore realized. He had been quiet perhaps, but that is the sign something is wrong. The man should have noticed the insanity in Diablos' eyes. He ended up in Ravenclaw. That alone was a sign. He was not a brave Gryffindor but a smartass.

Looking over the people to calm down, he noticed Tonks and smiled wider. The girl had not given much of a fight and was now on their side. Everything was finally going according to plan.

Tonks glanced over at Dumbledore before turning away. It had been way too easy to infiltrate this place. They thought she would turn from her cousin. Yeah right, and she was Merlin's wife. No way would she betray Sirius, or Diablos, or anyone from their side.

She knew why she was here, having already spoken to Diablos about it and she was not going to fail the task that had been given her. The world was better off without Dumbledore of any kind within it.

-

Although the arrival of the Weasleys had made their day turn a bit upside-down, it soon settled and Harry felt the three just melted into the family.

Fred and George would be seen in the garden, flying on their brooms they had taken with them from the future, constantly chasing each other and finally allowed to act like the young men they were. No fighting for them for a while.

Bill would be satisfied just sitting and watching them, often talking to Diablos quietly. His battle-hard face always softened when the raven-haired man was nearby even though what they discuss could hardly be about the garden or the weather.

Harry sat curled up in a reclining chair one day, one of the few days he was alone on summer-break but he did not mind. Draco and his parents had gone for a three-day vacation in Paris while Hermione was with her parents. Padma was with her family as well, Neville spending time with his grandmother at their home and Luna with Ginny at Cissi's and Salerna's house. The Weasley twins had followed Bill to Egypt where he had some work to do, knowing the goblins would be more than happy enough to guide them around the old tombs and treasures.

Looking over the garden, he still heard his uncle come walking. How he always knew it was Diablos he was not quite sure but it was something about the man's footsteps, they were always so gentle.

"Enjoying yourself?" Diablos asked as he moved aside Harry's legs so he could sit down.

"It's warm and comfy…"

"Judging by your sleepy posture, I take your word for it," Diablos said with a smile. "I know we haven't planned going anywhere this summer but… how about something small?"

"I'm listening," Harry said and straightened up.

"Just me and you and our friends from the future," Diablos said. "I know it doesn't look like it but Fred, George and Bill… they need to go somewhere entirely new. See stuff. Relax completely you know?"

"Yeah." Diablos had done something similar to Tom actually, that summer after Dumbledore had been killed. It had been Harry and the two of them going to Alaska for three weeks, almost the entire June. The former Dark Lord had been able to enjoy himself and it had helped him a lot. "Any plans where?"

"Salerna recommended a place for me," the man said and looked where Fred and George were currently chasing a snitch on the ground. Bill was reading a book not too far away from them. "Nepal."

"Nepal? Wow, talk about a place we haven't been to," Harry said with a grin. "When are we leaving?"

"You want to go there?" Diablos asked, perhaps a bit of hope in his voice.

"Of course! That sounds awesome!"

The man smiled at his now eager nephew, Harry almost in his lap, wearing a big grin.

"In a few days," Diablos said. "For a week or so."

"That sounds nice," the teen said. "I think the others can deal without us for a week, can't they?"

"They better; I haven't invited anyone else."

-

Harry dropped his bag and immediately took a look at the house, checking out the rooms before diving back out underneath Diablos' outstretched arm to have a look at the Himalaya mountain range that rose high into the sky. They had gone to a Wizard location that housed some twenty lodges for vacations near the Himalaya, for the wonderful view. Sure, it could become a bit cold but hey, they were wizards and witches! That solved the problem before it became one.

Fred and George went outside to have a look as well while Diablos carried his and Harry's things to one of the bedrooms. He and Harry were sharing and then the twins had one room and Bill had his own room. The oldest redhead put his bag down on the bed and went back into the living-area. He saw Diablos put the things down, Harry's bag on one bed and his own on the other. Bill took this as a chance to watch the man he used to know.

Well, he knew the man as a teen. Not as a teacher, as this.

Diablos looked young for his age, and a bit short. But according to Harry he had been thinner before, on the verge of gaunt. Now he looked healthier although he seemed to be getting lots of headache. Arsenic and Odium informed it was probably because of Dumbledore coming to this time and trying to take over.

"Bill?"

He shook himself out of his thoughts and saw Diablos watching him. The man had begun unpacking their bags.

"You always unpack Harry's bag too?" he asked.

"What? No, not usually. Now I guess it was just automatic…" Diablos trailed off and looked down at the bag he had almost finished unpacking.

"And Harry doesn't complain?"

"No, why should he?"

"Because he's what, soon sixteen and maybe wants some privacy?"

"If he wanted privacy," Diablos said and put the empty bag down on the floor, "he shouldn't have let me pack the bag from the beginning."

He walked past Bill and out the door in search for the twins and Harry. Bill blinked, and then followed.

It was so much that was different with Diablos. First of all, he was older. Older than Bill. Both in mind and body. Second, much more in control of his powers. He had a near-perfect wandless and nonverbal magic going on all the time, he just have to wave his hands or snap his fingers. Third… he was at peace. Well, not at the very moment with Dumbledore here and all, but in general. He did not live the life of a soldier in constant war. He had a home. He had family, and friends who didn't die on him.

Now, as Bill watched Diablos help Harry up after the teen had lost his footing for a moment, he could not help but think the change was for the better.

-

Diablos leaned back into the armchair and sighed gently, closing his eyes and wrapping his long fingers around the delicate glass that held a chillingly cold wine. He held it against his temple for a moment before slowly taking a sip, letting the rich taste down his throat before settling against his temple again.

"Headache?" Bill asked.

"A little bit," Diablos said. "These headaches are mild, for just a half-hour or so. Salerna thinks it's stress."

"You're working too much," Harry said from his place on the couch. "He knows it, I know it, Lucius and Severus and Tom and Voldemort and lots of other people know it."

"Yes, rub salt in my wound," Diablos muttered and then returned to his task of pressing the glass against his forehead.

"That's what I do best," Harry said with a lopsided grin, making the Weasley twins grin as well, both at Harry's antics and at the two Potters easy banter with each other.

"What did I do to deserve such an evil nephew?" Diablos asked with a groan.

"Evil fits with evil," the teen said, striking a finger up in the air to make his point clear. "Besides, you're like a hundred times more evil than me."

"Whatever," Diablos said and sank lower into the armchair, getting his feet up on the table in front of him. He took another sip of the wine and then let the glass rest on the arm of the chair, one hand holding it loosely.

"Is he really alright?" Bill asked Harry.

"Yeah, he just gets them from time to time," the teen said. "Give it a little while, and he'll feel better."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Drug him," Harry said cheerfully.

"I'm still in the room you know. Headache does not cause deafness," Diablos said sourly.

"Well, that's the only way to get you to sleep unless the headache goes away," the raven-haired teen said. "Besides, you aren't grumpy when you're high on potions."

"Harry! You make me sound like an addict!"

"Dia, everyone gets high on potions," Harry said and rolled over to he could swing his legs over the headrest of the couch, his upper body on the cushions and tilted his head down so he could look at his uncle upside-down.

"Mmm…" Diablos did not protest when Fred plucked the glass from him and put it down on the table; instead he just relaxed further into the armchair and felt the headache slowly retreat.

"See? He's getting better already," Harry said with a smile to Bill. "He's had them for years now so trust me on that; I know."

-

The next few days were spent hiking around or just staying around the house, relaxing and not thinking about their real lives for a little while.

So it was not so surprising that they had just dragged out some sun-beds on the porch they had to the house and laid down, content to remain there all day. The wizards and witches owning the place had made sure it would from June to August stay hot as it was popular to stay there in the summer.

Harry tore his eyes from his book a while later and saw Bill was watching something with a fond smile.

"What is it?" he asked.

"They can still do that," he said.

"Do what?" Harry asked, turned his head and then blinked.

Fred and George had combined two sun-beds, making the two into one larger and in the middle was Diablos, sleeping peacefully with one Weasley twin on each side.

"Make Diablos fall asleep with them," Bill explained. "Arsenic and Odium never quite managed but Fred and George always did. They helped him relax."

Harry could see it, because it had been some time since he last saw his uncle sleep that deep. George had not fallen asleep and was moving every once in a while yet Diablos did not even stir. His body did not even twitch even as George wove in a hand in that rich black hair and rubbed at the scalp.

He almost wished he could take a photo of the scene.

-

It was with a bit of sadness that they left Nepal, returning to Italy and Florence to get back to reality. Diablos had classes to teach, for at the Auror-school there was almost no vacation for the students, and beyond that he had to start planning with the others of how to take Dumbledore from the future out. All time-travellers were required on that since they were the only ones who knew his powers and how the crazy old man acted.

So Harry now watched them gather in the living-room, Diablos, Arsenic, Odium, the three Weasleys, Tom, Voldemort, Lucius, Severus, the Lestranges and Salerna. Diablos had the twins hanging over his shoulders but he seemed used to it and did not even react to that as he read something on a parchment. Bill was reading a book about warding, sometimes stopping and taking notes, Odium leaned over his shoulder and reading with him, neither of them speaking.

Sirius and Remus were sitting with the raven-haired teen, both of them had agreed to help the moment they were asked. Harry's friends would not be involved so they would remain out of harm's way but Diablos had not managed to convince Harry to keep out of this. He simply refused sitting in his room all day and not knowing what was going on.

"Can you tell us a bit about Dumbledore from your place?" Voldemort asked as he accepted a cup of tea from Dora. "You haven't exactly shared your thoughts with us about him."

"Alright," Diablos said and looked up from his reading. His eyes were almost completely red, only faint blue at the very edges. "He calls himself the lord of Light."

"Seriously?" Voldemort asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," the man said. "Everyone on his side in our time called him that. He is the lord of Light but uses Black magic to get what he wants."

"That kinda makes him an enemy of himself," Salerna pointed out.

"He doesn't care. He says he does it for the greater good, and his people follow like lost puppies," Diablos said and rubbed his face. "He's insane and manipulative, he doesn't fear break laws or people for that matter. If killing a child would get his point across, he would do it without hesitation."

"Not to mention he's already done it," Arsenic muttered. "Perhaps not yet in this time, but unless we stop him he will start on that."

"He killed children?" Bellatrix said as she sat down.

"Slaughtered them," Diablos said. "It proved his point, then it was good enough. He managed to convince the Ministry it wasn't his doing, of course, and for them he remained the all-good Albus fucking-middle-names Dumbledore."

"His methods in battle?" Voldemort asked, leaning forward.

"Send the weakest first, because they'll just slow him down in the end," Odium said.

"Then take the slightly stronger ones, letting them tire us out," Arsenic continued.

"Then finally it's down to the strongest ones, who we can't attack as we want because they use children as live shields," Diablos said. "Or at least he used to do that. In these times… people haven't gone that crazy they sacrifice their children for him."

"Let's hope it won't come down to that," the Dark Lord said. "How do we kill him?"

The time-travellers looked at each other.

"Let us come back to you on that one," Diablos finally said.

"And that means?" Lucius said, raising an eyebrow.

"That means we don't know," George replied. "Avada Kedavra doesn't work on the old man anymore."

"Tell me about it," Tom muttered. "Thanks for not knowing that little detail of information, I died."

"Well, you're back now," Diablos said and took a sip of his tea.

"We could have figured out that without me having to die, but whatever."

"I have a few suggestions to kill him," Arsenic said and looked at them all. "But that means a lot of power."

"We're not strong enough?" Voldemort asked.

"It has to be one person who kills him," she continued. "One only."

"How is one person supposed to kill him if even your time's Dark Lord couldn't do it?" Bellatrix asked.

"You forget something," the woman said and looked at them all. "We had two Dark Lords."

Diablos looked up at her and saw her gaze was fixed on him. He groaned.

"For Merlin's sake, I wasn't that for long!" he exclaimed.

"Yet you were the one who nearly severed him in half," Arsenic hissed, scales becoming more pronounced. "You can do it."

They all looked between the two, the woman's tense posture and Diablos' unreadable gaze.

"Fine," he said. "But we need to weaken his force. Bill?"

The man nodded and said:

"I'm going to England and track down Dumbledore, observing his forces along with Nymphadora Tonks."

"Dora?" Sirius asked along with Bellatrix. The two looked at each other, then back at Bill.

"Yes," he said. "Knowing your position, Sirius, and after speaking to Diablos she took up on the offer to become one of Dumbledore's fighters and report back to us."

"She's within Dumbledore's circle?" Rodolphus said.

"Yes, apparently Dumbledore thinks he's manipulated her mind and making her hate the dark side," Bill said. "She's good enough of an actress to fool him, and what her mind can't protect I will."

"How?" Sirius asked.

"I'll simply ward her mind," the oldest Weasley said.

"Mind-warding? That's extremely tricky," Voldemort said.

"Not for our Bill it's not!" the twins exclaimed. "Mind-warding is a walk in the garden for him!"

"Alright, then we know what Bill will do," Diablos said. "Arsenic, Odium?"

"I'm in charge of finding appropriate battle-places for the fights," Odium said. "We'll just make them believe that they chose the place, and that we didn't."

"Battle-potions," Arsenic said. "Plus working with the twins with air-strike. What they do best."

"Give us a broom each and we'll be rocking the sky," both said with equal wide grins.

"Tom?" Diablos asked.

"I will gather people," the man said and looked over at Voldemort. "You have your Death Eaters fit for fight already, but we need more. Diablos would contact Orator for seeking help from the vampires?"

"Yes, I have done so," Diablos said. "He can't make any promises but Orator is with us."

"I guess I will just continue with what I'm doing," Voldemort said with a smirk.

"With caution," Diablos advised. "This Dumbledore is a lot scarier than the last one."

-

The manor was quiet as Harry sat on the couch, his uncle's head in his lap and the teen holding an ice-pack against Diablos' temple. Sirius and Remus were playing chess with Tom observing, Arsenic looking through some books in the library and Odium having gone to England along with Bill. The Weasley twins were with Arsenic, chasing each other between the shelves of books and boosts of laughter could be heard from them.

Salerna sat down by Diablos' legs and pulled his boots off, rubbing the man's legs and said:

"You need to relax, Diablos."

"I know," the man hissed, moving to press the ice-pack harder against his temple. "It's not that easy as you might think."

"Grumpy today, isn't he?" Salerna asked Harry with a smile before moving towards the headrest, draping Diablos' legs over his lap and folding his hands on top of them. "Diablos, is this going to turn out alright?"

His tone had gotten softer; letting the two Potters know he was serious. Diablos opened his eyes briefly, considered this and finally said:

"It has to."

Tbc…

* * *

There, new chapter!

Chapter three: Start of sixth year, Harry worries about Diablos who gets increased headaches but not from knowing Dumbledore is back. No, this comes from the inside of Diablos' body; his own magic.

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter of a Lost Future **

**Summary**: Sequel to A Second Chance. Diablos and the gang are back, this time for a last painful fight against a Dumbledore from a time when war the least of people's problems.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Evil!Dumbledore, Gryffindor-bashing, siding with Voldemort-fic, time-travelling mentioned, violence and so on.

Plus you probably need to read A Second Chance to understand what's the hell's going on.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Harry Potter, but Diablos is kinda my own character. I morphed him into my own character. Plus I do own Salerna, his adoring wife Cissi, Orator and a few others.

-

Thanks for all the reviews!

-

**Chapter**** Three**

Harry looked at his trunk and sighed. No matter how neat he tried to pack, it was always too much stuff and too little room to place it in. He had no choice; this called for an emergency solution. The teen got up from the floor, walked over to the door, poked his head out and shouted:

"Dia, need saving!"

There. He walked back and sat down in front of the trunk, hearing steps in the hall and in a few moments he heard Diablos' soft chuckle.

"Trouble packing again?" Diablos asked as he walked into the room, running a hand through Harry's hair as he sat down next to his nephew.

"How do you manage, even without magic?!" Harry exclaimed as Diablos began unpacking parts of the trunk.

"Because I fold, you don't."

"I fold!"

"Calling this folding?" Diablos asked and held up a jumper made into a ball, smiling slightly. Harry blushed, then looked away. "Thought so."

Once the clothes were out Diablos began arranging the books so they would take less space and then began folding the clothing, the teen watching him.

"Packing is boring," the teen declared, arms crossed over his chest.

"Really? It's rather soothing I think."

"Why do you think I let you do it?" Harry asked. "You can just sit and pack bags an entire day if you want to."

"We all have our methods of relaxing," the man said with a sniff and packed down another article of clothing.

"And yours had to be packing stuff. And cooking. And sight-seeing."

"Hush."

-

The teen hugged Diablos hard as they stood on the platform to the train that would take Harry to Hogwarts for his sixth year. He nearly did not want to let go of the man, knowing what was going on and finally loosened a bit on his hold to look at his uncle's face.

"You take care of yourself," he said to the man. "I don't want to hear anything about collapsing or working yourself to the ground, you hear me?"

"Yes, yes," Diablos said, "I'm quite sure there are a lot of people who will stop me from doing that."

"They better," Harry muttered and stepped back. "Well, I gotta get on the train."

"Then go," Diablos said. "You two, make sure he doesn't get into troubles for me, alright?"

"Yes sir!" Hermione said and saluted. Draco only grinned.

"Get on the train you three!" Diablos said and made a shooing-motion with his hands. The three teenagers laughed, Hermione and Draco waving at their parents before all three ran to the train and hopping on where Neville and Padma were waiting for them.

Diablos watched the train leave and then there was a faint gust of wind behind him. Odium leaned down, closer and said:

"We should get going. Dumbledore will try tracking us."

"I know," the man said, he felt the man's hand curl around his arm and a moment later they disappeared.

-

Arriving at Hogwarts in late evening, Harry took a deep breath of the air and smiled a bit. He loved it there after Dumbledore was gone. There was a different feel now, Minerva being headmistress and Flitwick the deputy headmaster, although he still taught Charms.

Severus was still Potions professor but some of the teachers were new considering they had sided with Dumbledore.

The new ones were in the positions of Transfiguration since Minerva could not be headmistress and teach at the same time, Herbology, Ancient Runes, History of Magic and Divination. Sprout had sided with Dumbledore and fallen alongside Dumbledore in Harry's third year. Binns had retired, probably discovering he was in fact a ghost and Trelawney had fallen ill around Christmas in his fifth year, being replaced after the holidays by a woman named Syndra Killigrew. She was a lot more interesting than Trelawney with her heavy smoke and obsession with Harry. Nowadays he actually learned something on the lessons.

In Herbology they had a woman, Agatha Philips who was nothing like Sprout. She was fast, efficient yet kind, tall and thin, and not taking lightly on pranks in the greenhouses. This had earned Ron Weasley quite a few detentions from the woman, as he constantly tried to make Harry and his friends seem bad. Not Harry's fault the boy could not do it more discreet.

In History of Magic Binns had been replaced by none other than Remus, who had always been a bit of a history-freak. Despite his condition, his werewolf side, students loved him and his lessons you were less likely to fall asleep as prior with the ghost.

Transfiguration had a male teacher, Mercury Vinter who was a very good teacher. He spoke with a slight Irish accent as his family came from there and could care less of the war between light and dark. As long as no one bothered him was his motto. Harry thought he was cool, and the man knew his stuff.

In DADA they had had for the last two year a woman named Rana Wayte who more or less was ready to kick their asses if they did not give it their all. Harry had complained about it at first, to which Diablos had smacked him over the head and said it was good to finally have a teacher who was not fooling around with them. Over time the teen had grown used to Rana, and found her very nice. Sure she was stern, but then again so was Diablos. He was ruthless when it came to teaching Harry, especially Swordsmanship, and the teen found Rana to be a bit less harsh than the raven-haired man. But just a bit.

The former Ancient Runes teacher had quit after the third year, more due to health reasons than the war, and had been replaced by a man Bill Weasley had recommended; Wilburn Nortrac. The man worked odd jobs for Gringotts with warding, and boy did he know his runes. Harry had seen Bill work, and this man was just as impressive.

Walking into the Great Hall he seated himself at the Slytherin table with Draco, Hermione and Padma. The girls had taken a habit to sit there rather than going to Ravenclaw's table, and none of the Slytherins spoke up about it anymore. They were used to the two.

Sitting down he watched over the hall as it filled with people. He thought about his uncle, and about what was to come. Harry knew it would not be an easy year on Diablos, or at any of the other time-travellers. Bill, George and Fred had escaped one war only to be dragged into another. How did that really feel? He would not blame them if they were tired of war and fighting.

Hell, Diablos had been free from that particular Dumbledore for quite some time but never seemed to have relaxed about that. But maybe, after they take the old man out, Diablos could finally drop it. Loose some of that tension that seemed to have fixed his shoulders rigid these last few days.

Harry hoped Diablos would not suffer from any headaches. Dumbledore-induced headaches were a bitch to deal with. There was nothing you could do to ease the pain, and Harry had tried every solution he could think off.

Hearing a cling, silverware on glass, and Harry focused his eyes on Minerva as she began the new school-year.

-

Arsenic held up Diablos' head as the man coughed and spit up bile into the basin. His forehead was cold and clammy, hair sticking to his skin and his body trembling.

He had been having a headache when he and Odium returned from England after seeing Harry off at the train station. A half-hour later the headache had turned from bad to worse and the last four hours he had spent vomiting.

She murmured softly to him as Odium entered the room, kneeling down next to them and the silvery blonde man said quietly:

"You think you can drink some water? You're dehydrated."

Diablos thought of this for a moment, then lifted his head carefully.

"I can try," he said, voice hoarse. "Don't hope too much though."

Odium nodded and held up a glass of water. Diablos slowly eased to lean at the bed, Arsenic's hand on his arm and he took a small sip. The silvery blonde man moved to stroke away the sweaty hair and as the minutes ticked by more of the water disappeared.

"Feels better?" the woman asked as Diablos had drunk the whole glass of water. She held one of her hands against his abdomen, stroking softly.

"Stomach ain't acting up so I take that as a good sign," Diablos mumbled. "Fuck, I'm tired."

"Let's get him up on the bed," Odium said to Arsenic and she nodded. Together they got the smaller man onto the bed and Odium removed his boots while Arsenic slipped him out of the outer robe. Diablos' head simply lolled back as she lifted his upper body up, for the moment completely without strength.

"This sucks," he commented and pressed a hand to his head.

"Still having a headache?"

"Try something with a very hard sledge-hammer, banging repeatedly to be let out of my skull."

"Very cute," Arsenic continued. "Alright, headache potion?"

"Doesn't work," Diablos muttered. "Ice-pack."

"Dora," Odium said and the house-elf appeared at the foot of the bed. "An ice-pack for Diablos, please."

"Yes, master Odium," she said and popped out to retrieve it. In the meantime Odium slowly shifted until he lay next to Diablos on the bed, stroking the smaller man's forehead with his knuckles.

"Where's the Weasleys?" Diablos asked, eyes closed.

"Bill's in the library. I think he's trying to eat all your books," Arsenic said which earned her a smile from the man. "Fred and George are in the living-room. Don't know what they're doing, could be from playing chess to taking a nap."

Dora came back with the ice-pack that Odium took and pressed to the man's head. Diablos groaned at the contact but then leaned into it slightly.

"Sucks," he repeated.

"We know," Arsenic said. "Well, I should get going if I'm going to retrieve all those herbs from Australia. I'll be back in a few days. Will you call him in sick, Odium?"

"I'll call Salerna and have him do it," Odium said.

"What? I'll be fine tomorrow."

"Just in case," Odium said soothingly. "Don't want you to puke all over your students, right?"

"That ought to teach them a lesson."

"What kind of lesson?" the man asked as Arsenic went out the room.

"Listen to their teacher or teacher won't be a happy fellow," Diablos said before groaning and pressing the ice-pack harder to his forehead. "Fuck, that hurts…"

Odium did not answer to that, just continued running his knuckles from Diablos' temple to his jaw, propped up on one elbow on the bed. The raven-haired man's eyes slipped close and Odium said:

"That's it. Get some sleep."

Diablos mumbled something underneath his breath before his hand fell limply next to his head. Odium kept the ice-pack in place as he watched his friend go to sleep.

"If I knew I could," the man whispered to Diablos' sleeping form, "I would go and kill Dumbledore right now. Anything to stop your pain."

He waved his hand and the covers slowly slid away from them and re-settled over Diablos who moved to his side but not waking up. His body was relaxing into the soft mattress but Odium stayed until he knew his friend was comfortable.

-

Harry liked school. He liked learning. Enjoyed sitting in a classroom and hearing about new things every day.

However, he could not quite enjoy it as much as he wanted it now. Clouds of worry made him drift away from the lessons, and only a sharp pinch from Hermione or Draco could bring him back. He would have bruises sooner or later because of those pinches.

He was thinking about his uncle. It had gone almost three weeks since school started and they spoke every day, and every day Harry noted there was this exhaustion in Diablos' voice that the man was not bothering with concealing. That usually meant it was bad.

Plus he did not look good either. His skin was pale, his eyes bruised, and sometimes his hands were shaking. It was a wonder he was even allowed teaching by Maria. Or Salerna for that matter.

"Harry?"

He woke up from his thoughts and looked around. They were having lunch at the Ravenclaw table, having invited Neville which he gladly did. He sat at the Slytherin table from time to time but was more at ease at Ravenclaw.

But now it was Luna who had spoken to him. He looked over at the girl who smiled a bit and said:

"Don't worry; he's going to be just fine."

"I hope so," he said and returned to his meal, picking at it without appetite.

"Hey! Eat up!" Draco commanded. "You're not getting sick on our watch, Harry!"

"I'm not hungry," he said.

"You weren't at breakfast either," Hermione said. "Harry, just try a little bit. It won't hurt."

He knew they were right and took a bite. He then looked up at Neville and saw the teen was reading a letter. "Hey, Neville, what's the letter about?"

"This?" the teen said and held it up. Harry nodded. "Oh, it's just the letter my mum gave me."

That made the raven-haired teen smile a bit.

It had been a long and hard road for Alice and Frank Longbottom, but after two and a half years of intensive training and mind-healing potion the two were almost fully back to normal. It was rather sad, Harry thought, for Neville, that he had to wait for so long until he could say hi to his parents, and they would know who he was.

"They were going to be allowed to leave the hospital soon, right?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, around Halloween," Neville said and carefully put the letter back in his bag. "They were really looking forward to it; dad's complaining about the food there."

"Hospital food is crap," Harry commented.

"Harry! Your language!" Padma said and smacked him on the arm.

"Ouch! Sorry, mother," the teen said and she smacked him again. "Draco, she's abusing me!"

"Hell, I ain't gonna help you!"

"Why not?"

"She'll just start hitting me!"

As they continued to playfully bicker with each other Luna smiled a bit wider. Harry should not worry so much about Diablos; the man would know it and it would make him feel even worse. As long as Harry was happy, he helped his uncle a great deal even without knowing it.

-

Diablos turned again.

And again.

A third time.

A fourth time. He sighed heavily, shut his eyes tightly, eased his body into the mattress. On the verge of sleeping, laughter rang in his ears and his eyes flew open.

He sat up with a groan, rubbing his face before glancing over at the time. Three in the morning. There was no way he would get anymore sleep tonight. Not that he had gotten any. Rising up from the bed he walked to the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face, rubbing his eyes and looking at himself in the mirror.

"Don't I look miserable," he muttered and walked out from his room, wandering down the corridor down to the first floor. The stairs made small, creaking sounds as he walked down and he waved his hand, fixing it. No need to wake anyone else up.

He made his way to the kitchen and opened the door. At the sight he stopped for a moment, blinking.

Tom turned around, raised a cup at him and then turned back.

"What are you doing up?" Diablos asked as he walked over to the former Dark Lord, seating himself opposite of him.

"Could ask you the same thing."

"Well, I asked you first."

"I didn't feel like sleeping. You?"

"Couldn't sleep," Diablos said, leaning his head into his hands, elbows resting on the table in front of him. Tom looked up at him from the newspaper and said quietly:

"You don't look to feel so good."

Diablos wrapped an arm around his abdomen and groaned.

"Are you feeling nauseous?" Tom asked, rising up.

"No… yes… I don't know," the man said and slowly straightened up. "This… Tom, my magic is acting up."

The man came over to Diablos and placed his hands on the younger man's shoulders, easing his own magic inside to steady Diablos' own. The raven-haired moaned as his own wrenched away for a moment before slowly letting Tom's ease it down. "That's it," Tom said quietly, squeezing Diablos' shoulders. "Relax, child, relax."

"It wants Dumbledore dead," Diablos said even as he let his head sink down on the table. "Wants to rip him apart. Acting worse for each day…"

"Tell it to stop," Tom whispered to him, easing one arm around Diablos' middle, sitting him up again. "It will listen if you command it."

Diablos swallowed once, twice, then nodded and shut his eyes.

Tom waited, barely dared to breath.

After a minute Diablos' shoulders eased a bit. Another minute and his cramped abdomen-muscles relaxed. Tom took a breath, closed his eyes in relief and slowly moved up again, placing his hands on Diablos' shoulders.

"Better?" he asked.

Diablos nodded after a bit.

"You better get to bed. It's a free day tomorrow for you, right?" Another nod. "You should sleep in; you need that."

"Yeah," the man said. "Guess so. Just need some water before I go…"

As if hearing him in her sleep, Dora appeared with one glass filled to the brink with fresh, chilly water.

"How does she know?" Tom hissed at Diablos.

"I've stopped asking," Diablos said and accepted the glass. "Thank you, Dora. You may return to your bed."

"Master is going to bed as well?" she asked. He had a feeling if he said no, she would stay with him.

"Yes," he replied. "Tom will help me up; you should get your rest as well."

"Dora will sleep well if master sleeps well," she said but did return to her bed.

Diablos drank the water greedily, then put the glass down in the sink and walked out of the kitchen slowly, followed by Tom. The former Dark Lord knew better than to try helping Diablos without being specifically asked so he just hovered nearby as the man took the stairs up, and walking down the corridor to his room.

"Want me to stay?" he asked.

The raven-haired man looked at Tom for a bit, then said: "I think it's better if you will. Every time I close my eyes Dumbledore seems intent to keep me awake."

"I do doubt he enters your mind, but I understand how you mean," Tom said as they walked into the Potter's room. Diablos lay down on his bed, the sheets now cold and he rolled up in them, willing them to heat up faster. Tom chuckled and waved his hand, adding a warming-spell to the sheets. Diablos relaxed a bit and closed his eyes.

The older man sat down on the edge of the bed, reaching out and placing a hand on Diablos' ankle. An anchor to reality, to let him know what was real and what was not.

Diablos opened his eyes a bit and whispered:

"Thank you."

Tom stayed there the rest of the night.

-

"Dia, you look better!"

"I seem to have been able to overcome my latest worry," Diablos said as he placed another essay aside, graded and then returned to look at Harry. "I had a bit of trouble sleeping, but that is getting better."

"That's great!" the teen said.

"How's school?"

"Oh, it's good, can't complain. Lots of homework but they're kinda easy to do and all. How's on your front?"

"Essays, essays, essays, and just for a little more fun, essays," Diablos sighed. "Oh, and throw in a theory-lesson from time to time."

"You don't do practical?"

"Yes, I do that but it's starting to feel a bit like theory."

"Then you should change your method," the teen said. "If you get bored doing it, then how does your students feel?"

"Hm, I think you're right," Diablos said. "I'll see what I can do. Any troubles at Hogwarts?"

"Beside those from Dumbledore-fighter Ron Weasley? No, not really."

"That boy is still at it?"

"He's stubborn, I'll give you that," Harry said and stroke Coran's back, the snake arching into the touch while Hedwig hooted from her spot by the bed. Harry had to remember let her out for hunting before the day was over; she probably desired to stretch her wings.

"Too stubborn if I may say," the man said while re-checking his comments on the essay he had just corrected. Satisfied, he moved that to the pile of marked essays. He still had a quite an impressive pile yet to do. Being a teacher was boring sometimes.

Grading essays was one of them.

"Well, all Weasleys are stubborn," the teen said as he rolled onto his back, Coran hissing at the loss of the pleasurable touch before he slithered up on Harry's chest. "He just happen to be idiotic stubborn."

"I agree with that," Diablos muttered. "But other than him it's alright?"

"Yeah. Hogwarts wards won't let Dumbledore in, or anyone who has ill intents, you know that."

"Yes, but I'm a paranoid man, Harry. You should know that."

"And overprotective. And overly cautious, and nervous, and worried, and antsy---"

"---and coming to England to kill his nephew if the dear nephew doesn't shut up."

"Shutting up."

"Good… brat."

"Hey! Old man!"

Coran rolled his eyes; here they go again…

Tbc…

* * *

A short chapter this time, but I covered everything I had planned for this chapter.

Chapter four: Diablos starts to have flashbacks of his old life and is soon driven to the brink of his sanity. Meanwhile, Dumbledore gathers people to an army, and searches for a place that will serve as his headquarters…

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter of a Lost Future **

**Summary**: Sequel to A Second Chance. Diablos and the gang are back, this time for a last painful fight against a Dumbledore from a time when war the least of people's problems.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Evil!Dumbledore, Gryffindor-bashing, siding with Voldemort-fic, time-travelling mentioned, violence and so on.

Plus you probably need to read A Second Chance to understand what's the hell's going on.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Harry Potter, but Diablos is kinda my own character. I morphed him into my own character. Plus I do own Salerna, his adoring wife Cissi, Orator and a few others.

-o-

Thanks for all the reviews, and sorry for the lateness!

_Warning for this chapter: Slight mentioning of gore._

-o-

**Chapter**** Four**

_Darkness, suffocating darkness. Even with his eyes wide open, there was nothing he could see. No shapes, no light, no forms, just this endless darkness. His breathing sounded loud in his ears, his body was shaking, it felt so cold in there…_

_He heard talking, laughter, happiness. He shied away from it, like it burned his skin and hurt his ears to listen on it. Maybe it did. He had no idea any longer. Knew nothing about the happiness outside. Did not understand it. Scared of it even._

_What did it really mean, to laugh that way? To be a family? _

… _To have a name?_

Diablos shot up from the bed with a gasp, eyes wide. The room was dark so he saw nothing and after a moment he fumbled after the light by the nightstand. Was not enough. Not nearly enough.

By the time Arsenic and Odium had arrived at his room due to the noise it was bright in there. The woman blinked a few times, then had a look around. All the lights were on. Every single on.

"Diablos?" she said worriedly, turning her eyes to the bed.

Diablos was sitting in the middle of the bed, sheets pooling around him and looking straight ahead. He did not appear to hear her. She and Odium glanced at each other, then moved inside of the room.

"Hey, you okay?" Arsenic asked as she sat down on the bed. "You're shaking."

_What was happiness? I want to know. _

_I need to know. _

_Maybe__… maybe I could have it too._

The man's breathe hitched, then calmed and he finally looked at her. His eyes were dull, devoid of light and life. Arsenic froze on the spot when the stare hit her dead-on. It had been many years since she last saw that look.

Odium came forth and sat down by Diablos, laying a hand on the smaller man's shoulder.

"It's alright," he said. "Just a dream, right?"

_I want to have it._

_Why can't I have it? _

_Why can't I be like them?_

Diablos shook his head, looking down. Not a dream. It was not a dream. Dreams he could deal with, even nightmares. You just acknowledged them and then moved on.

But to remember _that_ childhood, those words, those memories… things that he had buried, things he rather not think about; there was no way he could just push that aside and pretend everything was fine.

Odium's hand clamped down on his shoulder, painfully, and it brought Diablos back with an irritated gasp and he shrugged his shoulder in an attempt to get rid of the pressure.

"Then keep yourself here and don't disappear in your head," the silvery blonde man hissed. "Stop being so wrapped up in the past, let it go!"

Diablos wrenched himself free and got up from the bed, his back to them. They felt his magic, and it was growing steadily darker. Arsenic swallowed.

"I just remembered something I thought was no longer of importance," Diablos said. "That's all. I'll be fine… just leave me alone."

"Diablos…"

_Tell me why._

-o-

Harry spun on his quill, staring at it, lost in thoughts. His unfinished potions essay lay in front of him, the ink drying.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione asked. "You're brooding over something."

"I don't really know," the teen said and looked at her. "Just… I keep getting distracted."

"Are you thinking about what's happening?" she wondered. They were seated in the library, far away from the librarian, Draco looking at books nearby. Neville, Padma and Luna had classes.

"Pretty much."

"Things will be okay."

"I hope so," the raven-haired teen said and looked down at the parchment he had been writing on a few minutes prior. "Not only for our sakes, but also for Dia. This thing is just way too stressful for him."

"He didn't look so good," the girl said as Draco returned to their table.

"Who?" the blonde asked.

"Dia," Harry replied. "And no, he isn't feeling too good about this."

"Why don't you check on him?"

"He has classes today, I can call him during lunch."

-o-

Diablos Potter could sometimes arrive to work in a bad mood. That made him a bit snappy, and quick to make them to practical things so he could work off some steam. Students were used to that and did not mind; everyone had a bad day once in a while.

But to have a complete and utterly _silent_ Diablos Potter… that was not normal. Okay, he was not the most talkative person in the school but he did speak up at class, even when they worked on assignments.

They looked up once in a while from their books and papers to see Diablos stand by the window, staring out, looking lost. His eyes were bloodshot, like he had had too little sleep, and his hair a bit more tousled than usual. His teaching-robes were in perfect conditions though, and they hoped he was just having a few rough nights.

Diablos sighed, looking down at the book he had been holding. His focus was seriously lacking. He was not even up to let his students have mock-duels. He would be too tired and annoyed to look on. Plus he had no wish to see duels at this point. He would see enough of them as the year progressed.

_Why do people have to fight?_

He rubbed his eyes. He hated that voice. That small, insecure voice that had been his own a long time ago. That voice that whispered pleads and wishes into the darkness of the small, confined cupboard, hands over his ears to shut out his aunt's and uncle's screams. They only screamed when they were mad at him. Only then. He hated that.

_I haven't done anything._

Poor, little confused boy. Poor, little freak. Diablos hated when people had called him Harry. That had not been his name. His name had been boy, it was freak, sometimes monster, then later the devil that soon morphed into Diabolus, then shorted down to Diablos. Soon he was no longer little and confused. Neither a boy nor a freak. He was scary. He scared his family. Frightened them with his anger, rage and soon insanity.

_I just want someone to love me._

How hard had that been? Apparently, too hard. And before long, he had forgotten that, because who needed that wish when they did not even know what love was?

He shut the book and walked over to his desk in hope to have some grading done, and maybe a moment when memories from his childhood at the Dursleys did not haunt him.

-o-

His army was growing for each and every day, people his to control, people who obeyed his every command with joy in their eyes and smiles on their lips.

The Weasleys had allowed him to stay with them but he was growing weary of the house although it lacked most of the children. Of course Diablos had managed to make most of the family betray their parents. Only Ron and Percy remained true, and he would use that. Plus Ron went to Hogwarts. Harry Potter would also be there.

Perfect. Dumbledore would use the boy to get closer to Harry Potter, or at least get to know this time's Boy-Who-Lived.

For now though he was going to find a headquarters that fitted his needs. It had to be grand for he deserved no less. The Light needed to see wealth being on their side as well.

So where would he find that?

-o-

By the time September ended and October began, Harry knew there was something wrong with his uncle. Something that he would not be able to fix by himself.

Diablos looked deathly tired each time, and seemed to get gloomier for each time. The man had never been truly angry at the teen, not so it showed, but Harry felt like the man was constantly angry. He was not sure on whom but guessed probably on himself or his thoughts.

The man in question knew very well why he was angry. He was angry at the memories Dumbledore's coming had brought forth. Every night he dreamt of old times, let it be the abuse at the Dursleys or the bitter smell of blood and death on a battlefield. Sometimes times where he had been briefly happy, quiet moments with Arsenic or Odium, or worse, Sirius and Remus, when they were parents-figures, not equals. He felt like he was slowly going insane.

Dropping the quill Diablos rubbed his face tiredly. He knew there was no way he could get anymore work done. It was after all four in the morning and he had to be teaching classes in five hours.

Hands slowly came to his arms and he tensed for a moment before feeling who it was. He relaxed and Tom dragged his hands up to the younger man's shoulders. He kneaded them softly, Diablos groaning before letting his head drop forward.

"Dora will slay you if she finds you here," Tom said gently. "Let's get you to your room."

"If I sleep… no, I can't sleep."

"Dreamless sleep potion?"

"Doesn't work. Already tried it."

"You have to sleep," the former Dark Lord said. "Come, let's get you just to your room."

Diablos allowed Tom to drag him up and walk him from the study to the bedroom. The others were naturally in bed and asleep, with the exception of Odium; as an Undead he did not really need the sleep but claimed it was nice to rest his body once in a while.

Tom though was a night-owl and it was not so surprising seeing him going to bed at six in the morning. So four in the morning was not news.

Settling Diablos down on the bed, Tom stepped back a bit and let the man struggle out of the robes. When it came to the boots Diablos sighed and merely fell back on the bed. That was the older man's cue to come forward and give the red-eyed man a hand.

"Diablos, you can't just stop sleeping," the man said. "Talk to someone. To me, to Arsenic, Odium, anyone."

"I can't. The words get stuck in my throat every time I try," Diablos whispered. "I can't talk to anyone."

Tom sat down on the bed and pulled Diablos up. "You can," the former Dark Lord hissed. "I will not let you do this to yourself. You are not doing this to yourself again."

"Doing what?"

"Self-destruct."

-o-

As October rolled on, Harry knew his uncle was not doing well. In fact, the man was doing horrible. He could not rest without having memories overwhelm him despite his Occlumency-shields, he stopped feeling hunger and the only thing keeping him up was potions.

Diablos was heading for a burn-out, and he was heading there at top-speed. After all, he never did anything half-hearted.

Harry started to talk with those who lived at the manor, and Salerna of course. He also had talks with Severus and Lucius, healers in Rome and Madam Pomfrey. Anyone he could think of that could help Diablos.

He had to focus on school too, but that was not so hard. He was a good student, always had been and he enjoyed learning. He would enjoy it even more if his uncle was not feeling so crappy. Harry wanted Diablos better by Halloween. If the man was not, then Harry was going home and make sure he would be fine. He would do anything to make his uncle's memories stop haunting him.

-o-

Diablos was rather proud over himself that he had not started drinking himself to oblivion. Actually he had not touched alcohol since all this mess started. Rather he seemed to step away further from it. There was no enjoyment in it anymore.

The Weasleys from his time, Arsenic and Odium had tried to talk to him but he could not. There was nothing they did not already know so how could they help? He did not want to talk about the memories; he had seen them enough times. He had acknowledged them.

Now he just wanted to move past them, and continue with his life.

Fate had never been that kind to him. Instead the dreams continued during his nowadays rare sleep-time, and no matter what Occlumency-shields he put up before going to sleep kept them away. He wanted to rip something apart. Preferably Dumbledore. Fast, please.

Another dream, and he shot up from the bed, this time with tears running down his cheeks. He curled up, and let his head rest against bony knees, and he wrapped his arms around his legs. He wanted something to stop this. He needed something to stop this.

Diablos heard the door open and looked up, the world out of focus due to the tears. A shape stepped closer to him, a shape with shining white hair, too bright to be Odium, the height was not completely right either…

"Salerna," Diablos managed. "What brings you here in the middle of the night?"

"You," the white-haired man said with a shrug, sitting down. "I've watched this long enough. I don't know what you see, I don't care either. You don't want to talk about it, I know that. Bad memories are better off unspoken of, merely acknowledged they exist."

"I can't shut them away."

"Yes, you can."

"I can't!" Diablos shouted and got up from the bed, red eyes blazing, the windows banging open and letting in the cold night-air. The curtains flew up with the sudden wind yet Salerna did not move. Diablos tore at his hair, continuing, "I can't shut them away, because whatever I do they come back! How the hell am I supposed to be able to rest easy with these things in my head?!"

He was outright screaming right into Salerna's face, and felt the lid of his control starting to slip, and fast. He felt the magic tear in him, wanting to be released and he was tempted. He was so tempted to just let it all go.

He heard shuffling of feet, gasps and knew the others had arrived. He did not care. He walked towards one of the windows and said:

"I can't rest with these memories. They won't let me be."

"Then you're weak," Salerna said calmly.

Diablos spun around and stared at Salerna's back. Magic crackled in the air. The time-travellers at the door backed away. Salerna himself did not move. "I dare you to say that again," Diablos said, his voice like a hissing snake. If he was shocked at the statement or in a rage was anybody's guess.

The man rose up, turned around and met Diablos' fiery eyes dead-on. His own were cold, hard, perhaps a tiny bit of regret but his voice rang clear:

"What? Did I stutter the first time?"

Diablos lunged.

There was no control.

He had no control anymore.

He had not slept a good night's sleep in weeks.

The man was at the end of control, and now he was going to let go.

The two tumbled to the floor, magic exploding and making the others cover their faces. They were thrown away from the door, crashing into the wall opposite to the room. Odium caught Arsenic around the waist before she could crash to the floor, and Bill kept George up. Tom hauled Fred from the floor but as they turned the door banged shut.

They could not help Salerna.

In the room the magic could almost be seen in the air. Salerna held both of Diablos' hands away from his own body despite the fact Diablos was sitting on top of the white-haired man. He could see the frail control Diablos had over his emotions and magic, it was going to snap soon unless Salerna did something.

"I'm not weak," Diablos said, denial, he sounded like a child. Salerna wanted to cry at that, hearing his best friend in that state. "I'm not weak! Why do you say that?! Why?!"

Diablos let go a bit, and in a moment it was Salerna hovering over the red-eyed man. The man was so tired he only blinked, dried tear-tracks down his cheeks.

"I'm not weak," Diablos repeated. His hands fell to the floor. Salerna only nodded, moving around and heaved the man up in his arms. "I'm not…"

"You are now," Salerna said. "But tomorrow, after you have slept, you won't be. Because I will stop your self-destruction tonight. You are going to sleep."

"You know I can't."

"Only because you allow the memories to come," the white-haired man said and settled Diablos down on the bed. "I won't begin to try understand. I won't ask. All I say… is that I'm here for you. You're my dearest friend, Diablos… your pain hurts me too."

Diablos looked up at Salerna. The white-haired man moved to the raven-haired one's side, drew him close and wrapped him up in his arms.

"I haven't been able to sleep lately," Salerna said. "I was too worried about you, Diablos. We're both weak."

Diablos was still for a moment, then feebly pushed his head into Salerna's shoulder.

"Maria said we could take a day off tomorrow. I arranged it for both of us," Salerna said, letting one of his hands rest on the back of Diablos' skull. "The students will probably think we drank too much and got a hangover."

That made Diablos chuckle a bit.

"Well, they know you can't hold your liquor," the younger one said. His voice was hoarse, tired but there was a smile playing on his lips.

"They know you have a tendency to have a bottle too much," Salerna teased. "Then we'll be back, the gossips in full power and bam! We'll force them to a joint class and I'll have them to sit-ups and push-ups. Then run laps while training wand-movements. They will all be clocked of course. Then you can force a test on them. Preferably on a chapter they haven't read yet."

Diablos laughed at that. They had done it actually, a few times in the past when the rumours and gossips got a bit overwhelming. One of them had been that Diablos and Salerna were lovers. For a moment the two men had actually been worried what Cissi would say. She had stated they would probably be cute together and said it was okay if they wanted to give their students heart-attacks by snogging in the hallway.

Another time it had been that Diablos had looked a little too deep in a wine bottle, and it was Salerna who had punished them for that comment. The man in question had in fact been up all night planning the year's schedule until his eyes crossed and he could not see two feet in front of him.

Salerna tightened his hold on Diablos' skull, smiling.

"That ought to keep them busy," he whispered. Diablos nodded. "You feeling better?"

"… A bit."

"You ready to sleep yet?"

"I can try," Diablos murmured. "Just… stay nearby?"

"Don't worry," Salerna said, settling down. "I'm not leaving you."

-o-

It was quiet around Diablos' room in the morning, the time-travellers did not really know what to do. They walked around the room, careful not to disturb in case their friend finally got some sleep.

Salerna was lying on the bed, propped up on one of his elbows, looking down at the sleeping red-eyed devil. Diablos was settled next to him, covers up to his shoulder and breathing deep and even. It had taken him a while to fall asleep and now when it was so calm, Salerna did not want to leave in case Diablos woke up again.

He took a look on his friend, noting the paleness, the dark circles, and sighed. The man was overworking himself, and it was bordering to become dangerously so.

The white-haired man stroke away some of the hair from his friend's face before slowly moving to a sitting position by the head of the bed, drawing his legs up to rest his elbows on his knees. He wanted to finish this new Dumbledore already. He wanted to go where the man was and slay him but was also aware of what the time-travellers had said. Dumbledore may be old for an ordinary wizard, but he made himself special, more dangerous, more deranged and more powerful. He could not be killed so easily.

He sighed as he moved a hand through his hair in frustration, looking down at the sleeping man. Salerna wanted it over for Diablos' sake, and more importantly, for the safe-keeping of the red-eyed man's sanity. He had never claimed Diablos was fully sane, who was, but this was getting to the raven-haired man. The waiting around to kill a man he finally thought he was free from. The planning because one mistake would lead to someone's death.

Diablos had seen enough of it from the few stories Salerna had heard. More than enough. Living in a war was never easy.

A soft knock on the door and he was drawn from his thoughts.

"Come in," he said quietly and Fred and George came inside. "Aah, the infamous Weasley brothers… second pair."

The two snorted as they made their way over.

"Odium and Arsenic are too scared to walk inside," Fred said. "We've never really been aware of our own safety so that's why we're coming in."

"Why are they too scared?"

"Diablos here has a bad reaction being woken when he's more or less pissed off," George said and sat down. "But he seems to be calm."

"Yes, it took him some time to get to sleep but he was not pissed off."

"He was before. That means he'll still be it… or at least a little pissed off."

"Maybe," Salerna said and looked at the man. "But that is if we wake him up right now."

"Then let's not do that," the twins said.

"My point exactly."

-o-

Diablos dragged himself to consciousness slowly, stretching underneath the warm covers and yawning. He felt rested for the first time in weeks, and basked in that with his eyes still closed.

"Sleeping beauty, time to wake up."

"I know that voice," he muttered and said voice chuckled. "What time is it?"

"It's eleven-thirty," Salerna replied. "I'll have Dora come with some food. And don't get up; it's our free day. Let's nurse away that stupidity of yours, shall we?"

"And here I thought we were going to say we were hangover."

"Well, stupidity is generally treated the same way as a hangover."

Diablos snorted at that and slowly opened his eyes. Salerna was sitting next to him, and snapped his fingers. Dora appeared out of nowhere and Diablos watched as the white-haired man requested some food. Looking over at her master, the house-elf nodded and vanished back to the kitchen again. The younger of them sat up slowly, pushing himself to rest against the headboard and dragged his hands over his face, yawning.

Salerna now rose up and fetched his robe from the floor, throwing it to a chair and turning back to the man in the bed.

"Why is it too dangerous to attack Dumbledore now?" he asked.

"We aren't ready, and he has too many people. He's good at that," Diablos replied. "Can we please not talk about him?"

"Alright, I was just curious."

"Why?"

"As why I couldn't go there and finish the bloody man off myself. He's starting to get on my nerves."

"Well, he's good at that too."

"No kidding," Salerna muttered and sat down. "But, no talking about that. For now, what should we do the rest of this wonderful day?"

-o-

It was perfect. It was everything he wanted. It would serve him well.

Dumbledore looked up at the castle, smiling in triumph as he watched his people carry his things in through the huge oak-door. The castle was old, and abandoned, which meant he could have it without having to tell anyone at the Ministry about it. It was better before, when the Ministry had fallen in the end and you could take anything you wanted, including other people. He missed that, the feeling of going down the street and just grab onto someone, claiming them as his own. Best part was they could not refuse, they could not say no.

That way he got people to fight for him. He took people off the streets and forced them to fight against the dark. He did not care if they fell; they were of no importance. Just pawns on the chessboard, clearing place for the more important pieces.

Walking up to the entrance, Dumbledore felt power return to him. A magnificent castle at his disposal, people looking up at him in awe and he was soon to destroy the dark forces in this time, along with that blasted Diablos. Even from the start that boy had been a mess to deal with. Not responding to his own name, ending up in the wrong house, Slytherin Merlin forbid, and refusing to make friends with the right people. Instead he wound up with that know-it-all Hermione Granger and Slytherin prince Draco Malfoy.

After that it had all gone down-hill. And then, when Diablos had been fifteen…

Dumbledore growled at the memories. He should have put a leash on the boy. Locked him in a room. Starved him to death. Should have killed him as a child. Strong enough to repel the Dark Lord, Dumbledore should have known that meant trouble.

Too late now. He could only do the right thing for the moment, and that was to destroy the dark side and become the leader of the Light, a king in the world of witches and wizards.

-o-

They were in the middle of a meeting when they heard the front door open with a bang. Diablos and Arsenic looked up sharply from the parchments, looked at each other and then ran out. Voldemort and his people blinked at them, wondering what was happening.

The Weasley twins, the time-travellers ones, looked at each other as well and seemed to catch up on something at the same time as Bill and Tom. All four exclaimed:

"Shit!"

And then promptly followed their friends.

Voldemort got his answer to why a little later.

Diablos and Bill dragged Odium inside, the man's previously white robes drenched in nearly black blood. It was pouring out of the Undead's mouth and nose, he tried to walk but his legs would not comply with him.

"What happened?" Voldemort asked.

"Isn't he supposed to be immortal?" Lucius continued as he watched them lower the man down on the couch in the living room, which they used to meet up in.

"Doesn't mean he can't be injured," Arsenic hissed. "It won't kill him but the wounds can get infected if we leave them open. And infected wounds hurt a lot more than normal ones."

"Shit, his entire left side is open," George said and looked up at them. "There's no way he can regenerate himself that fast."

"Back-up plan," the woman said to Diablos.

The man nodded, said:

"I'll go and get the thing then."

"The thing? What thing?" But Voldemort got no answer, Diablos simply disappeared through the door. They could hear him run down the hall.

"Odium, look at me," Arsenic said and caught Odium's lolling head. "What happened?"

"Moody," the man gasped. "Got too close to the wards but I know where Dumbledore's staying…" He coughed, blood splattered onto Arsenic's face and she wiped it off irritably.

"If you're gonna spit blood on me you better make up for it later," she said. "Focus on your side."

"He got another one in the right leg," Fred said. "Looks like the bone is crushed, some muscle damage, lots of icky blood. Seriously, Odium, why the fuck's your blood black?"

"Because I'm dead, you idiot," Odium managed.

Diablos came back and Voldemort, Lucius, the Lestranges and Severus widened their eyes a bit. Salerna raised an eyebrow. The raven-haired man was holding an arm.

An arm only.

And it was a human arm.

Plus it looked like it had been ripped off.

"Diablos?" Voldemort asked.

"Undeads can eat normal food," Diablos said, put the arm down on the table in front of the couch. "But they don't really need food, since they aren't really hungry. Salerna, do you remember when I told you about that person I met?"

"When?"

"When I went to the North pole."

"Yeah, what about him?" the white-haired man asked.

"Part of it was true," Diablos said and looked up at him. "The eating part."

"But… but I thought you implied at the time he had a hard time not eating… you?"

"That was kinda a lie, Odium would never hurt me, but the eating part…" Diablos tore off meat from the arm, blood dripping down on the smooth wood. It looked fresh. "Undeads eat the meat of humans to regenerate faster, and because it's kinda tasty."

He sat down on the couch next to Odium, whose intestines looked ready to fall out on the floor.

"Will you hurry up?" Arsenic said. "And where did you get that arm from?"

"You remember that group we fought two weeks before we went through the time-travelling-thing?"

"That was a long time ago, Diablos, you can't give him bad meat!"

"I froze it down," the raven-haired man said. "Dora took care of it until she found me again. For Odium, this thing is less than an hour old."

"Odium eats human meat?" Voldemort asked.

Diablos looked at the Dark Lord, smiled a bit and replied:

"Just on occasion. Don't worry, he won't try eating you if that's what you're afraid of."

"Not really afraid," the man said as he watched Odium take the offered treat from Diablos' hands. "More… curious."

"Well, that's all there is to it," Arsenic said as she stood up. "He's been ashamed for it, so let's not spread it around. It took him a long time to get comfortable eating it around me and Diablos."

In the meantime as they talked, everyone but Diablos left Odium alone. Diablos conjured a cloth, dabbed it in some water and began cleaning away the blood on Odium's face. The man himself had his eyes slightly off to the side all until the raven-haired man said:

"Don't look away from me, Odium. You got nothing to be ashamed off. It's natural for you, just as it's natural for me to eat steak. Meat as meat, what the hell is the difference?"

Odium swallowed and replied:

"You don't eat meat raw and just off a human arm."

"Says who?" Diablos said. "Merlin knows what kind of meat Dora orders."

That made Odium smile a bit, then wince as his skin began to knit together again the more he ate.

"That was one nasty wound," Diablos said. "Moody was it?"

"Yeah. And don't think about it."

"About what?"

"Getting revenge," Odium said. "Don't."

"Don't worry," Diablos said. "It won't be for revenge alone, it will be entertainment as well."

"Diablos!"

"Odium."

"_Diablos_…"

"Odium…"

"Dia---"

"We can do this all day," Diablos interrupted, "so let's call it even and leave it alone."

Odium merely growled.

-o-

"So you're doing better now? No nightmares and ridiculously long nights?"

Diablos rolled his eyes. "There were no long nights, I just didn't go to bed. But yes, I'm better. The wonders Salerna can do; I should think of paying him."

"Yeah, right, then he'll be rich in no time."

"Are you saying that I need him, Harry?"

"I'm saying he'd find an excuse to make you feel better all the time," Harry said. "Money is nice."

"Salerna isn't the type, but I'll keep that in mind."

"So you're coming at Halloween?"

"Is there a reason why I shouldn't?" Diablos asked as he put aside another finished-corrected essay from a student.

"Just checking," the teen said and smiled a bit. "How's everyone?"

"Splendid; remind me to start charge people who sleep over."

"First you're gonna give money and now you want it?"

"I got to survive somehow, right?"

"Sneaky devil."

"That's not news. What else? Something fun at school?"

"Weasley is an ass."

"Which… one?"

"There's only one Weasley left on Hogwarts."

"Oh, that… well, what was his name again?"

"Dia, you've been to school with him… in another time… or something."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I know----Oh! Ron was it."

"You're getting senile?"

"Speak for yourself."

"I'm a kid; I'm supposed to know lots of stuff."

"I'm a teacher; I'm supposed to know a lot more stuff than you know."

Harry stuck his tongue out through the mirror. Diablos returned the gesture. He did not tell Harry. Did not need to. Not yet. The teen would understand. He understood things Diablos did not.

But this was Diablos' secret to know between the two Potters until it was over and done with.

The first battle would be fought on Halloween's night.

Tbc…

* * *

A cliffhanger!

And yeah, sorry for the lateness. Here it is though.

Chapter five: First battle against the future. Clashes in Hogwarts, Light against dark.

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter of a Lost Future **

**Summary**: Sequel to A Second Chance. Diablos and the gang are back, this time for a last painful fight against a Dumbledore from a time when war the least of people's problems.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Evil!Dumbledore, Gryffindor-bashing, siding with Voldemort-fic, time-travelling mentioned, violence and so on.

Plus you probably need to read A Second Chance to understand what's the hell's going on.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Harry Potter, but Diablos is kinda my own character. I morphed him into my own character. Plus I do own Salerna, his adoring wife Cissi, Orator and a few others.

-o-

Sorry for the lateness! Enjoy chapter five!

-o-

**Chapter**** Five**

Harry stood in the hall, along with most of the students in the school. He felt Hermione and Draco beside him, reassuring and strong, and straightened his back. Luna was humming next to them, moving her finger in the air. Neville looked around at the various students while Padma was busy stuffing some books down her bag. She never really looked forward to greet her parents when Parvati was there. The girl had never really changed opinions of her sister, and continued with her glaring along with Lavender and other girls from Gryffindor.

As the parents began to well in, as was customary at Halloween, Harry turned his attention to the doors, to see if he could spot Lucius and Narcissa, in whose company Diablos could often been found.

Today he spotted Diablos first though, which was rather amazing as the man usually shrunk down when he was amongst large crowds.

The man made it to the group of children, and gave a sigh of relief. "I nearly thought my end had arrived," he said.

"Why's that?" Harry asked.

"I got squeezed between two different groups, very annoying."

"Seen my parents?" Draco asked as Harry hugged his uncle.

"They should arrive any moment."

Harry looked at Diablos; he seemed almost to be in another world and the teen could not help but lean into him for a bit, making the man look over at him.

"Harry?" he murmured.

"It's nothing," the teen replied as he watched Hermione's parents greet their daughter. "You're distracted."

"I have a lot on my mind, that's all," Diablos said. "Come on, it seems like all of us has gathered."

-o-

Dinner was great, but even despite that and the sense of happiness in the air Harry kept looking at his uncle. Who by the way was not really eating anything. He mostly pushed around the food on his plate, taking small bites every now and then.

"Dia, eat," Harry finally said and the man looked over at him.

"It's not one of those days," he replied. "I don't have much appetite lately."

"Well, you can't do anything unless you don't eat," the teen said. "So do it, or I swear I'll get in touch with Tom and Salerna. They will spread the word."

"You're a horrible nephew."

"I was taught by the best," Harry said and Diablos chuckled at that.

"True," he replied. "Alright, I'll have a go. If not, Dora can try later."

Much later though, because he had somewhere else to be first. Looking over at Lucius, he saw the man was ready. He did not even need to look up at the Head table; Severus' magic alone was enough to ensure he was also ready.

-o-

As they had said goodbye to their children and now moved out of the gate, Lucius kissed Narcissa's cheek and bid farewell to Neville's grandmother, Hermione's parents and Luna's father. Diablos did the same.

"Don't stay up for me, darling," the blonde man said. "I don't know when I'll come home."

"I won't," Narcissa said. She looked over at Diablos and said, "But I'm pretty sure you're making it as quick as possible."

"Don't worry, Cissy," he said. "You'll have him back in no time."

"Now that's a promise," she laughed and followed Hermione's parents so she could help them home.

Lucius turned back to Diablos, smirked a bit and said:

"Shall we then?"

Severus walked up to them, nodded to them both and Diablos grabbed a hold of them both, then vanished.

As the world cleared up after the Apparation the two men had a look around. They could hear waves crash into stone, and Severus said:

"Northern Scotland. By the sea?"

"Yeah, Odium picked it out," Diablos. "But we're making it look like we are searching for something so Dumbledore will 'accidently' stumble upon us."

They saw Death Eaters getting ready, Voldemort standing amidst them dressed in blood-red robes and fingering lovingly on his wand. He had a hood drawn over his young-looking face, only allowing them to see his lower half.

Then they spotted Odium, like he was a hard person to miss. As usual with his blindingly white clothes, and next to him was Arsenic. Her hair pulled up, snake-scales more visible than usual around her temples, on her bare arms and the barest hints of sharp fangs in her mouth. A pouch hung on her hip, and she was dressed in a sort of dress that allow fluid movements with her legs, and it was most likely designed to be able to battle with.

The two moved towards the Death Eaters, Bellatrix pulling out a mask and robe for Lucius as Severus had brought his own. Meanwhile Diablos moved over to Odium and Arsenic, pulling his hair up in a ponytail and shedding his outer robe, revealing he was wearing battle-robes underneath them.

"Does Harry know?" Odium asked.

"No," he answered. "Later. I wanted him to enjoy himself, not worry about me and some battle."

"Later tonight," the woman said. "I mean it. No secrets."

"Yes, mother."

She cuffed him over the head.

"Where's Bill?"

"Setting up the wards."

"Fred and George?"

"Ready for your signal."

"Tom?"

"At the manor," Odium said.

"Good." Diablos did not want to let Dumbledore know that the former Dark Lord was alive. Not yet. Would be a nice surprise in the future.

"They're coming!" someone shouted.

They all turned and saw a group of people move rapidly towards them. Diablos suddenly stiffened, as did the two other time-travellers.

"What's wrong?" Voldemort asked.

"He's coming," Arsenic hissed. "I can feel his sick magic choking me…"

"Oh, I guess that means Dumbledore's here…" he muttered.

Sure enough, soon they all got their first look on the Albus Dumbledore from the other time.

He looked normal enough. Deep blue battle robes, long white beard and hair, still those glasses but his eyes were mad, a grin firmly on place, and his gaze fixed on the time-travellers.

"Did you think you could escape me?" he shouted, raising his wand.

Within a moment a curse flew towards them and by the time it hit, Diablos had already fired three others while running towards the Light, Arsenic and Odium following. Not long after that the Death Eaters were charging with Voldemort leading.

Diablos knew he needed to keep Dumbledore busy, make him unable to attack anyone else so they could hack away at his forces. Most of the people he had brought though were minions, those he didn't care about. Not even Moody was there. They had take almost all of them out, make weaker people more scared to join Dumbledore. As long as you had willing human shields you were pretty strong, and the former headmaster knew that very well.

Dumbledore thought he knew how to take them on. Thought he knew how to fight them. The time-travellers.

He thought he knew.

First spell by Diablos, and his eyes widened. The three others, rapidly executed, made him realize he was wrong. Deeply so.

And when Diablos came up against him, one-on-one fight, he got a first feel of Diablos' magic up close.

The raven-haired man did not give the old man a chance to attack but instead shot out a series of spell, none of them out loud, just pure non-verbal spells and Dumbledore out of protection shields just in time but his eyes got wide for each hit on the shield, how the magic made cracks appear, the sounds, _the pure power_.

Diablos was no longer the same. In fact, he was worse.

More powerful.

More dangerous.

Maybe not more insane, and that was the problem.

An insane Diablos Dumbledore had been pretty good at handling. The powers were incredible yes, but the man had more often than not lost control over it, making it explode too early and forcing the dark to retrieve before victory could be achieved.

But now, with a reasonable sane Diablos, one who was in much more control… back in their time he had not been able to do all those spells. They required focus, something Diablos had lacked before.

Now, he was anything but lacking focus. He slashed through the air, released magic in great chunks, great _controlled _chunks and that was what scared Dumbledore the most.

Despite that he hung on, threw spells back and chased after the man he wished he had killed long ago. Diablos kept making turns and mad dashes, drawing him further away. Dumbledore knew he had something planned out but could not figure out what. There were no visible traps he could spot, no seemingly order Diablos made his spells, no direct line in the spells he used. It felt random.

At the same time the former headmaster knew it was not.

"What are you trying to accomplish?" Dumbledore shouted as Diablos made another run.

"Nothing in particular," Diablos replied as they circled each other. "However, my friends have accomplished what we came here to do."

Dumbledore narrowed his eyes, then they widened and he whipped his head towards his group.

Which was no longer a large group. More like a small group. Dead bodies littered the ground.

"You…" he hissed and turned back to the raven-haired man. They were not too important, he had left those back at his manor but they had been good paws, good players to use to the max. And now they were all gone, all his small-soldiers were gone.

"It isn't your time to die yet," Diablos said, "although it pains me to say that. Therefore… Bill!"

The wards raised themselves from the ground, shot out towards the sky and Dumbledore screamed in outrage but it was too late. He was outside the wards and Diablos was inside of them. He banged on the invisible walls, tried to break it down with spells but nothing worked. Then he screamed louder because he realized it was not the Bill from this time Diablos had called out to, but the Bill from Diablos' and Dumbledore's time… a more experienced and deadly Bill.

"Fred, George!"

The old man screamed more when he saw the Weasley twins, older pair, come zooming down from the heaven, both on brooms and they dove down, releasing a waterfall of potions, courtesy of Arsenic and Severus, on top of the rest of the Light. Their screams soon died out. He should have known that. The Weasley twins always made an airstrike of some kind, whether it would be them alone, or someone tagging along on the brooms. There was always something that forced Dumbledore to keep his eyes on both the ground and sky. He should not have underestimated the dark this time, when they had the help of people whom had fought him before.

Diablos turned back and saw the fury in the man's eyes. However, Dumbledore was backing away. He was not stupid.

"This is not the end," he raged. He felt the urge to stomp in the ground, like a child does when something doesn't go the way the child wants.

"That's true," Diablos said, and had the nerve to smile. "It's only the beginning."

-o-

Harry got to know about the battle the day after, when Diablos had gotten a good night's sleep and the teen swum in oblivion long enough. One day might be a bit short one may think but the teen would find it out from someone else within two days.

So Diablos told him.

Just straight out.

Like a comment about the weather.

Diablos Potter was never known to smooth things in and delaying the news in finer details.

Harry stared into the mirror where his uncle raised an eyebrow in silent challenge. Finally the teen managed to find his voice:

"You fought… Dumbledore last night? After dinner?"

"Yes."

"Dia, why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want your mind on that," Diablos said. "You looked forward to the Halloween dinner, don't you think news like that would have spoiled it a bit?"

"That's not that point! Why… why wouldn't you…" Harry could not find the words.

"Harry," the man spoke gently but firmly. "I am telling you now. I just wanted you to be happy."

The teen slumped back against the headboard of his bed, Coran sliding over to rest on his stomach. He absently scratched the snake's head and knew Diablos was right. Harry would have been obsessing about it had he known. He would have whined, clung to Diablos, he would have been a pain in the ass with all his asking and worrying.

"I know," he finally said. "Still…"

"Still what? It went fine, I'm not out on a crazy killing-spree, I slept well and I'm not even angry at the moment."

That was true. Harry had expected his uncle to feel like shit after seeing Dumbledore for the first time in this time but he seemed to be doing just fine.

"Why's that?"

"Because we killed a lot of his supporters."

"I knew the killing part would show up," the teen muttered, and to this Diablos only grinned.

-o-

"My family is going to tell the Ministry what your uncle really is doing."

Harry stopped and turned around with a sigh, was met by Ron's hateful glare. The teen had only grown worse after the death of Dumbledore in third year, and it seemed like he was not about to get any better at behaving this time.

"What?" the raven-haired teen said.

"Your uncle is evil, and now they got proof! They're going to tell the Ministry that and he'll be arrested!"

Was that supposed to be a threat?

"Somehow, I don't think anyone will listen to your family," Harry said. "My uncle is a teacher, that's what he's really doing."

"He's helping killing people!" Ron shouted.

"Can you scream any louder?" the teen muttered. Then louder, "Listen, I don't know what your problem is today, but go ahead and try it; I doubt you will succeed."

"I'll make the Light turn, they will win!" the redhead screamed after him as Harry walked away.

-o-

Harry's eyebrow twitched. So did Draco's. Hermione let out a sigh. Padma fiddled with her parchment and quill. Neville smoothed out some pages. Luna waved her wand around to make sure no one had anymore jinxes on them.

"I didn't really think he would manage to convince anyone that I was evil reincarnated," Harry muttered.

"That idiot weasel," the blonde growled. Luna hummed in agreement and Hermione continued:

"What did he think this would do? Make the Light look better? Some of those curses are forbidden!"

"I don't think no one them really cared," Draco muttered.

They were seated in Severus' office while the teachers dealt with what had happened; a riot, caused by Light-supporting teenagers where they had basically gone on a rampage, attacking as many they could. Only those they considered dark of course.

Which was the reason why Draco had his arm in a sling, Luna did not speak due to a stray spell her jaw had partially cracked and she had to keep her mouth closed for a few days, Hermione had some bruising, and Padma had small cuts on her arms that a few hours ago had been huge gashes. Neville had managed to get away pretty much unharmed, mostly because he had been in the greenhouse when it had happened and the plants had been less than happy with having spells released in the confined area.

Harry himself had been attacked too but with the spells Diablos had taught him, particularly the shields, he had managed to protect himself and his friends the best he could. He had gotten a few close ones nicking him, explaining a few scratches in his face and a slight burn on his left hand.

That had not been the worst though. It had been to tell their families. Diablos was on his way, as he had been notified only minutes before, when the chaos had finally been brought down to a reasonable level. Lucius was also on his way, and Luna's father, but Hermione's parents could not make it, Augusta was out of the country for the moment and Padma had told her parents not to come. Parvati had been one of the attackers.

They had been led by Ron Weasley, and he had even been brought to the Ministry along with a few others who had been using forbidden curses and spells. McGonagall, as the headmistress, had followed along and left it up to the teachers to calm things down.

Severus entered the room along with Remus, and behind them were Lucius, Diablos, Sirius and Xenophilius. The children all rose up and were greeted by the adults. Diablos took Harry's face in his hands and looked him over.

"Dia, I'm fine," Harry said. "Really, it's just scratches."

The man's hands unconsciously stroke his nephew's face for a few moments before he let Sirius and Remus have a look.

Lucius was currently raging, although Draco tried to quiet him down but the blonde man was way too furious with his son's injury to be calmed down anytime soon. Severus steered over to give the blonde teen a hand.

Xenophilius just stroke his daughter's hair, examining her face that did not betray the true nature of her rather painful injury. She had not made any signs that she was in discomfort though, and patiently let her father turn her head from left to right, fingers gentle as he checked.

Remus talked to Neville and Padma for a bit while Diablos silently fumed. Harry noticed this and dragged on his wrist until the man gave in and stepped closer.

"You are not going and killing anyone," the teen said.

"I think I'm offended. Why would you say I will do that?"

"Because you're flexing your hands the way you do before you go crazy."

"Whenever have I gone crazy on you, Harry?"

"Trust me, I've seen it," Harry said. "Either you're going to try kill someone, or you'll destroy the room, or you'll scream. I rather have you not do any of those. Just stay here and be calm."

"I am calm," Diablos protested.

"No, you're not. You're upset, and I understand that but it won't justify you going on a killing-spree," Harry said. "Or at least 'I'm gonna destroy rooms in my anger'-spree."

"Ungrateful brat," Diablos muttered but stayed put. He may not go and kill someone (well, he had to suppress that for a moment or two when seeing the children's state) but the 'destroy a room'-suggestion sounded… rather nice. Take his thoughts away from other things.

He did not do it though. He focused on Harry's hand around his arm, the warmth radiating from his nephew's body, Sirius' voice as he said something and Diablos closed his eyes and allowed himself to calm down. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. Harry smiled and removed his hand, knowing Diablos was fine now.

"I want to knock some sense in Molly and Arthur Weasley though," Diablos added. "What are they teaching their children?"

"Dia," Harry moaned, "most of the Weasley children are with us."

"Yes, I know that, but obviously they taught those children the right thing. Whatever did they do wrong with that Ron, or whatever his name is?"

"Dia! You know what his name is!"

"Do I now?"

"Dia!"

Sirius shook his head at the man, and said:

"Now you're just riling him up."

"Takes his mind off other things," the raven-haired man said with a shrug.

"What?"

"You're upset as well."

"I'm not."

"You are," Diablos said. "You're grinding your teeth, I can hear it from here. So how about we both calm down for a bit and you guys can start planning on how to get revenge on Ron?"

* * *

Tbc…

Weird ending but that's okay I guess.

Sorry for the lateness; Supernatural and reality keeps distracting me. Mostly, I just wish reality would leave me alone for a few minutes. Rather have only Supernatural harrassing me... and perhaps my stories here ^^

Chapter six: Sirius gets injured by Dumbledore, then Orator gets attacked. Seems like Dumbledore is trying to hurt people that Diablos care for. However, the time-travelling former headmaster makes a bad mistake when he tries to separate Salerna's head from the rest of his body.

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter of a Lost Future **

**Summary**: Sequel to A Second Chance. Diablos and the gang are back, this time for a last painful fight against a Dumbledore from a time when war the least of people's problems.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Evil!Dumbledore, Gryffindor-bashing, siding with Voldemort-fic, time-travelling mentioned, violence and so on.

Plus you probably need to read A Second Chance to understand what's the hell's going on.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Harry Potter, but Diablos is kinda my own character. I morphed him into my own character. Plus I do own Salerna, his adoring wife Cissi, Orator and a few others.

-o-

Thanks for all the reviews, and enjoy chapter six!

-o-

**Chapter**** Six**

The days were growing colder in England while in Italy they remained as warm as usual. Sirius had a bit of a hard time constantly shifting between these two different weathers and wondered how Harry managed. Autumn and early winter in England, winter break in Italy, spring and beginning of summer in England again and lastly the rest of the summer in Italy.

Sirius had the need to stick to the same place, but then again, he is not as young as he used to be. The feeling of running free was slowly dwindling. But for now, he was running an errand for Diablos, and going to England for a little while was not that bad.

A spell exploded next to him, and Sirius dove to the ground out of instinct, whipping his wand out and rolling over so he could catch a glimpse of his attacker. Nothing. His heart was pumping against his ribcage; it had been a long time since he was in a serious battle, or duel for that matter.

Finally he got visual on the attacker, and his eyes widened.

"You are quicker than the one I knew," Dumbledore said, wand trained on him. Sirius rose up, wand ready and replied:

"Well, I'm not the Sirius you know."

"No… he was much more prepared."

The voice came from behind, Sirius whirled around to face the second Dumbledore but both fired a series of spells each, hitting him. He fell to the ground, gasping, blood quickly filling up in his mouth and dribbling out as he rolled to his side, to not choke on his own blood. He could barely feel his other wounds than the one pulling at each breath, and he dragged his wand close, closing his eyes as he heard footsteps approaching.

"I will kill you, here and now," he heard Dumbledore say. "Not because of who you are, but because of what you represent. You may see Diablos as your godson's uncle, your best friend's older brother, but I know he sees you as somewhat a father figure. It's much easier breaking a person down by killing everyone he loves."

There was a slightly hysterical tone to his voice, one that Sirius did not like at all. This man was going to kill him, and he was not going to do it gently. Was he going to accept that, lie still and let the old man do it?

Not really.

Sirius squeezed the wand, held the tip to a necklace, focused his entire strength and shouted out:

"Transport!"

With a shining light he vanished.

-o-

The Death Eaters heard the commotion along with their leader, but Voldemort was the first to move towards the sounds and screams. As the screaming did not lessen, rather it increased, he picked up the pace and nearly ran to Diablos' living-room from the front hall where he had entered just a few moments before.

The first thing he noticed was the coppery stench of too much blood lost practically hanging in the air, so thick he could taste it. Then he nearly lost his balance at the slippery feeling on the floor. Then he saw what had happened.

Diablos' eyes were wild, his magic ferocious even as he tried to stop the blood leaking out from Sirius. The man's skin was no longer just pale but white, his eyes closed and dried blood mixed with fresh around his mouth and nose. His limbs were loose, floppy even but they did not need to see that to know he was unconscious.

"What happened?" Bellatrix shouted as she ran forward. It was her cousin after all, and she held him rather dearly.

"He was attacked, I shouldn't have let him go alone," Diablos growled.

"We didn't know!" Odium replied. "Besides, he was on his way meeting me, if anything I should have started searching for him the moment he was delayed!"

"Let's not start with the self-guilt!" Arsenic interrupted. "I promise you there will be time after we've saved his life! Diablos, how are you doing?"

"I've fixed his lungs and trying to repair the intestines. He's got broken legs, but that will have to wait. They're clean breaks."

"I'll set them temporarily," Bellatrix offered even as she moved to her cousin's legs.

"Please do," Diablos replied even as his hands began shining brighter, his skin took a sallow colour and Arsenic said:

"Don't start trying to drain yourself. Focus more than push unnecessary magic into his body."

"I fucking know that!"

There was no harsh response to his snapping, as they saw he was stressed enough. The Death Eaters and Voldemort could only watch on helplessly as they tried to keep Sirius alive.

-o-

Harry kept on spinning on his quill, staring at it even as Coran stared at him. He was supposed to be doing his Potions essay in the quietness of his room, as Severus had mysteriously vanished in the middle of the day, leaving them without their teacher for the class and no news had been brought forward. Diablos was not answering in the mirror, and soon after Severus had gone Remus had not been seen either.

There was something wrong, he knew that, and that took much of his concentration.

"_Ya know, it ain't gonna write itself,"_ Coran commented.

"I know," Harry mumbled.

"_Start writing then. That black-haired dude is scary when he's angry."_

"I know that too. I just…" Harry opened his book, shaking his head. "I'll find out soon enough what it's all about."

-o-

Severus sat down on a chair, giving a sigh of relief. His bloodied hands lay limply in his lap. Next to him was already Diablos seated in an armchair, skin almost white and clammy, and his hands were trembling lightly.

But Sirius was resting on the bed now, out of danger and in a healing sleep. Remus ran a hand through his friend's hair, newly washed to get away all the blood.

"You two did a great job," he whispered to the two.

"Don't thank us for his legs, that was all Bellatrix," Diablos said. "I don't have any healing magic left to fix those today."

"And you won't," Remus said. "I'll call Poppy, I'm sure she'll be happy to help. You should go lie down and get some rest; you look almost worse than him."

"Probably should," Diablos said and rose up. And nearly went back down. Severus managed to catch him before he could topple to the floor. Diablos' robes were already bloodied so the potions master was not overly concerned over his own bloodied hands. "Will someone speak to Harry? He would want to know that his godfather is alright."

"I'll go back to the school in a moment, I'll find him," the potions master said. "Let's get you to your room now."

-o-

Harry was being watched carefully by Draco and Hermione while Severus was changing robes. He had just been told what had happened and so far he had not tried to do anything outrageous.

"But he's fine?" he finally asked when Severus had joined them again.

"Perfectly alright, he'll be back to nagging on us in no time."

"And Dia?"

"He went to get some rest, and asked me to tell you," the potions master said. "He's also fine, just a little drained."

"It means it was bad."

"Pretty bad, yes."

"Exactly how bad?"

"I'm not going into any kinds of details, Harry," Severus said. "Sirius is fine now, so don't worry."

Harry just nodded while the three watched him. Coran was coiled around his throat and he took some comfort in the cool skin against his own.

"Okay," he said after a while. "So… if I want to speak to Dia, I should wait a few hours?"

"Maybe you can wait until tomorrow. He was pretty exhausted."

"Alright." He was staring into the wall, Coran now sliding down to his lap. "So Sirius was attacked by Dumbledore?"

"That was apparently all they heard," Severus said. "That he had been attacked on the way to Odium by Dumbledore. He transported himself back to Diablos' manor. Arsenic contacted Odium while Diablos started healing Sirius."

Harry nodded again and rose up. "I think… I think I'll go back to the dorms."

"We'll go with you," Hermione said and Draco rose up after her.

"Yeah… maybe that would be best," the teen said. "I'll see you later, Severus."

The man waved them off and they left his office. Walking down the corridor, both took a look at Harry and he said:

"I'm fine. I'm not going to attack anything, anyone, I'm not going to scream or throw a tantrum… I'm fine. Just as long as Weasley doesn't show up."

"Be careful," Hermione said. "He usually shows up when you don't want him to."

-o-

It was strange for a vampire to be late for a meeting, even if it was a casual one. Or at least, that was how Diablos knew Orator. He was never late, and it seemed on him that most of the vampires he knew were not late either.

So when the clock had passed two, turning into two-thirty, Diablos was not actually able to really focus on the book he desperately was trying to read. Instead his fingers drummed on the cover while he stared at the time. After a while the Weasley twins, older pair, looked up at him closely followed by Bill, then Tom and lastly Arsenic and Odium. They discovered he was giving the clock his death-glare, and they all swallowed.

"Has the clock done something bad to you?" George had to ask after a minute of silence.

"Either it goes too fast, or Orator's clock has failed him for the first time," the raven-haired man said.

"When was he supposed to be here?" Odium said.

"31 minutes and 9 seconds ago."

With that, Diablos threw the book on the couch beside him and rose up, agitated. He stormed out of the living room, with no one really daring to follow him. The black cloud seemingly hovering above him was enough to give him some space. They heard him walk back and forth in the hall, and went back to their own things, hoping he would calm down.

The agitation and anger had turned into an annoying worry, as Diablos kept pacing on the floor. Walking soothed him, sitting still did not, so he kept walking.

However, he came to an abrupt stand-still as Orator finally came through the door.

Crawling.

Bloody.

This is saying something if one knew the fierce vampire.

Diablos' brain stopped.

Orator managed to look up, showing bloody teeth in a snarl and said:

"Are you going to help me up or not?"

Once Diablos got him to a standing position, Orator stretched carefully, coughed out a mouthful of blood on the floor and glanced apologetically at the owner of the house.

"I don't care about a spot of blood!" Diablos raged. "Believe me, I've brought home worse! Now what the hell happened to you?"

"Don't scream in my ear, that's annoying," Orator groaned. "I got attacked. Damn, I'm late. How late? That brat-human is going to get it…"

"Brat-human?"

"To me he was," the vampire said as they walked towards the living room. One of Orator's legs was dragging behind. He coughed again, then continued, "To you he'd be an old man."

Diablos' blood froze, his eyes turned to ice and he stopped. Orator tensed as he felt the coldness spread out from Diablos' body, then disappear only to be replaced with a slow growing rage.

"Old man?" the red-eyed man said. "Tell me, did he have long white hair and white beard, half-moon shaped glasses?"

"… How did you know?"

Diablos tried to take a deep, calming breath.

Deep, achieved.

Calming…

Nope.

He screamed.

-o-

It took them two full hours to finally calm Diablos enough so he could sit down on the couch, having some tea in his hands that Dora had practically forced him to hold and promise him to not break the china.

Orator's wounds were rapidly closing up, but had allowed Arsenic to take a look at the worse ones. Diablos was nowhere near that steady on his hands to do a check. So far he was just staring into space, knuckles white around the cup, and everyone barely dared to breathe too loudly.

"Maybe we should call Salerna after all," Bill suggested.

"It's okay," Orator said and flexed his hand that had previously been more or less crushed. Feeling the bone strong and unbroken, he flashed a grin to Arsenic, rose up and continued, "I'll talk to him. Maybe you can give us some time?"

Two minutes later, the two were alone and Tom gently closed the doors behind him so they could have some privacy. Diablos had barely moved.

"You are really pissed at this Dumbledore now, are you not?" Orator said as he sat down next to the man, plucked the cup from his hands and almost pressed into Diablos' side. "Look at me, boy."

The red eyes shifted to his.

"Face me, not just your eyes."

Diablos turned his head. "Maybe you could move back so my eyes won't cross?" he asked.

Orator chuckled but complied, easing back a little. He leaned his head into the palm of his hand, the elbow steadying itself on the back of the couch, sitting side-way with one leg pressing to Diablos' thigh, the other with the foot planted on the floor. His robe had been taken off, leaving him in black slacks and a dark blue shirt. He had kicked off his shoes earlier so he was barefoot.

He let Diablos choose when to talk, satisfied with just sitting there.

"I really, really want him dead now," the younger of the two finally said. His voice was not as steady as normally was.

"I want him dead too," Orator replied. "Damn brat-human."

"And I call him old man," Diablos said with a snort. He reached for the tea again.

"Well, either way he is going to die," the vampire stated. "He will continue trying to hurt people on your side. I heard about a Sirius."

"Harry's godfather," the man said. "He was injured a while ago, by Dumbledore."

"I'm taking it you were a bit angry then too?"

"Luckily I was too busy trying to keep him alive I didn't have time going to England and finding the guy. But him attacking you, you don't even live in England."

"I guess he is moving outside his boundaries," Orator said with a shrug.

"Way outside them," the man muttered.

-o-

It was almost like tradition for Harry and his friends to spend time outside whenever the first snow came. If it was on a weekday, they waited until the weekend, hoping the snow would stay. Mostly, it did. Then they would pack food in a basket carried usually by Harry and Draco, have a large blanket to sit on and Hermione adding a warming spell on it.

This year was no different. So he found himself rather early a Saturday sitting on a blanket and staring up at the cloudy sky. He heard Padma and Luna talk about something, the younger girl's jaw healed nicely and it was good hearing her voice again. Luna did not talk that much, but she often hummed on a song and with that absent it had been strangely quiet. With the talking back, and humming, it felt like things were relatively normal again.

Beside him spacing out all the time. Harry shook his head a bit to get back and looked around. Draco and Neville seemed to have engaged in some sort of snow-throw contest, as what they threw could not be counted as snowballs.

"You look cold. Here, have some chocolate."

He looked over at Hermione, and she was already offering him a cup. Taking it gratefully, he cradled it in his hands and let the warmth slip into his fingers, heating them up.

"Thanks," he said.

"Don't mention it. Who do you think will win, Draco or Neville?"

"Draco's good at speed, at least running but Neville's got better aim. Honestly?"

"Yes, please."

"I got no idea."

The girl laughed and looked over at the two. "You're right; I don't know either," she said. "Doesn't look like a fight anymore."

"Maybe they're competing who they can bury in snow first," Harry offered before taking a sip of the chocolate. It tasted heavenly, the perfect work of the Hogwarts house-elves. Well, Dora's was slightly better.

"I think Neville's on the winning streak then."

True; Draco was soaking wet and Neville kept on charging.

"He's a feisty fighter," Harry said. "Lucky me I didn't join them."

"Lazy…"

"I didn't want to get wet!" the teen protested and Hermione rolled her eyes.

Neville was soon declared winner by the blonde teen who was then helped up by the Gryffindor and together they staggered back towards the heated blanket and the others.

"You're not sitting down until I've dried you guys properly!" the bushy-haired girl announced and raised her wand. "Objections?"

Knowing she would do it whatever they said, the two boys shook their heads and let her carry on.

-o-

Things had almost calmed down by the time it happened.

Diablos had been hoping Dumbledore would have given up seeing as he had not succeeded killing Sirius or Orator. Then again, who in their right mind attacked a _vampire_ and hoped the guy would die? Dumbledore was crazy, and apparently quite dumb at times.

But he was wrong. It wasn't over, not for Dumbledore.

However, he should have just quit it.

Diablos was worried from the beginning of the day, not being able to focus on his lesson and absently gave his students a test to do before trying to grade. His body wouldn't sit still. He constantly changed position, tapped his fingers, moved his legs and he wanted to bang his head into the desk in frustration. He wondered why he was worried. Was it because he hadn't met up with Salerna? Then again, he did not see Salerna every morning. The white-haired man was probably in his own class and-

There was a knock on the door and Maria walked in. Her face was grim and Diablos knew he was about to know why he was worried.

"This class is dismissed. Professor Potter, please come this way."

Oh dear… that serious? Diablos left his things as they were, turned to his students and said:

"Read through the chapter I spoke about yesterday, and prepare to be questioned on it."

And with that, he was gone.

"Maria, what is it?" he asked but she just shook her head, replied:

"Not here. Come with me."

He was surprised when she held out a pouch of Floo powder at her office and said:

"Where am I supposed to go?"

"Rome hospital. I'll arrive after you, don't go anywhere."

Feeling his worry starting to spike up to a level where it would turn into rage, he did as she instructed.

Maria saw she couldn't hold it off any longer as she arrived to see Diablos' eyes all red, arms crossed and pale skin nearly white. She had seen him angry once; she did not envy the person he was angry with, nor did she wish to see that anger again.

"What is it?" he asked.

"There was an attack," she said and his eyes grew lifeless, and she knew he knew who the attacked one was. "He's alright, Diablos, I promise."

"Where is he?"

Resigned, she sighed and pointed down the hall. "Room nineteen."

Diablos had already turned the moment nineteen left her mouth and now she watched his back as he nearly ran down the hall to get to the room. She followed hurriedly, hoping he would not do something foolish… like blowing a hole in the roof. This place already had air-conditioning.

The moment Diablos opened the door, Salerna turned towards it and smiled as he saw his friend.

"I don't know why they're keeping me here. Barely a scratch on me!"

He looked alright. A few bruises on his neck however told Diablos a different story, because they weren't your average bruises. He walked up the white-haired man and tilted his head up, running his fingers over the bruises and Salerna swallowed.

"Aah, Diablos…"

"These are not ordinary bruises. They are bruises made from healing."

"Diablos…" Salerna tried again.

Hand grasping Salerna's chin tightly, and the head was brought down, the white-haired man's eyes staring right into Diablos' red ones. He could not spot a fleck of blue anymore.

"They are made when you quick-heal a cut," Diablos whispered.

Salerna winced; Diablos was too much of a healer to have not noticed that.

"I'm fine," the man assured. "Right? See? Only bruises left!"

"Who tried to kill you?" Diablos asked.

"Diablos, dear…"

"Who?" There was this icy tone in the man's voice that made Salerna quite nervous, and glancing up at Maria he swallowed again and said:

"You know who."

Diablos knew.

And he lost whatever control he had over his emotions.

-o-

It had been quite some time since Harry was needed to calm Diablos down. As in, he was needed immediately no matter what class he was in, whatever test he was doing, whoever he was with, and whatever he was doing.

So it was a bit shocking when Maria, the headmistress of all people, came along with Minerva to get him. She looked pale, and Harry knew where he was going. Time for his tuned in 'Calm-Diablos-down' action. So he followed with the woman without a word, Hermione promising to take notes for him and then they were off.

It was surprisingly quiet where Diablos was. Maria pointed at the door, room nineteen and said:

"Salerna was attacked, and Diablos didn't take it too kindly. He's not destroying the building but he's going to do something irrational if he doesn't get a hold of himself."

"I'll figure something out," Harry promised, and opened the door.

Diablos sat on one of the chairs, Salerna kneeling next to it and hand on the man's knee. The white-haired one looked up as Harry entered, and sighed of relief.

"He won't talk to me," Salerna said quietly as he rose up, gently stroking Diablos' hair. "He's… well, in a rage is too kindly put."

Diablos did not look to be in a rage. He looked to be… well, nothing in particular. But with Diablos Potter rage sometimes came silently, and that rage was worse than the screaming and ranting.

"Stay here," Harry said. "He'll want you around too."

Salerna slid up on the bed; he knew that already, and then he waited. Harry sat down on his knees in front of his uncle.

"Hi," he said gently, and put his hands on the man's knees. He could feel the bones underneath, too much, and winced a bit. Well, there wasn't much he could do about the knees at this moment. "Maria told me what happened."

Diablos' eyes shifted to his.

"You're holding it in, aren't you?" Harry said. "Let it go, alright? Getting angry here isn't going to solve anything. You'll give in to what Dumbledore wants. He wants you irrational. He wants you angry. Because when someone is angry, they make mistakes. That's what he wants us to do. Mistakes."

Diablos stared into his nephew's eyes, then took a deep, shuddering breath and his hands slowly unclenched, showing neat rows of marks imbedded in his palms, red from the blood his nails had drawn.

Salerna slid off the bed again and sat down next to Harry.

"You're the only one who can calm him down this quickly," the white-haired man said. "Come on, Diablos, lift your head dear… I want to see your pretty face."

The raven-haired man snorted, closed his eyes, breathed deeply again and looked over at Salerna. One hand moved to touch the bruises again.

"Is that where Dumbledore attacked you?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Salerna said. "He seemed quite insistent of separating my head from my body. Rather cruel-hearted of him."

"He wanted to make sure he killed someone," Diablos said. "He was too weak against Sirius and Orator. He wasn't going to hold back on you."

"Good thing he didn't know I'm a rather quick fellow," Salerna said with a smile. "He barely got a hit on me and I was running the other direction."

"Are you calmer now?" Harry said. "Not going to blow anything up?"

"I wasn't planning on doing it from the start," the man said. "I need something cold to drink."

Harry stood up and got his uncle a glass of water which the man greedily drank. It was strange, but to have something to drink usually helped in calming the man down. And drink, as in water, milk or tee, and not something alcoholic. That was good.

"Better?"

"Yes," Diablos sighed and dragged his hands through his hair. "Did Maria really drag you from your studies? Maybe I should blame her if you fail a test."

"Like I'll ever do that," Harry huffed. "Besides, it was Potions. Sev will let me off the hook once he knows what it's about. And the only other class I got today is History, and I know I'm good there. Plus Hermione was gonna take notes for me, means I miss nothing."

"Our own little smart girl," Salerna said with a smile. "Diablos? You look tired."

"My poor nerves," Diablos mumbled into his hands. "This is not good for my nerves…"

Harry petted the man on the head.

"We know that," he sighed and saw Diablos' shoulders shake a bit. Seemed like the realization that Salerna could have died was settling in. "Salerna…"

"I know, I'm coming."

Harry did not like the sight of Diablos crying but did not want to leave the room either. So he had to endure it, and it tore at his heart hearing that breath that could be counted as a sob.

Sirius' injuries had made Diablos angry; luckily he had been too exhausted to yell.

The attack on Orator had sent him into a two-hour rage-induced rant before they managed to shut him up.

But with Salerna it was different. Salerna could be counted as Diablos' closest friend, maybe even closer than Odium and Arsenic. Because Salerna didn't know Diablos' past until a few years ago, or at least, didn't know all of it. And he did not want to know all of it. He accepted everything Diablos was, right from the start. Nothing Diablos did frightened Salerna the way the raven-haired sometimes frightened his time-travelling friends. Losing him could mean the death of Diablos. The red-eyed man could, and would, murder to keep his friend alive.

Strange, but true. And Harry knew that better than anyone. So he watched Salerna take one of Diablos' hands and the man said:

"Now you're just acting silly, Diablos dear. There's nothing wrong with me, so why are you crying?"

Diablos just shook his head. He hated crying. Despised it. It was the worst feeling ever, yet he couldn't stop it. He was embarrassed to be crying in front of his best friend and his own nephew, but he still could not stop it. Salerna hushed him gently, one hand still holding his and the other moving over his hair, the strands sticking up stubbornly until the white-haired man's hand came and gently smoothed them down.

The tears stopped after a few minutes and he managed to sit straighter, now feeling very tired and empty. Harry was already by his side now, arms encircling his shoulders and Salerna rose up.

"I'm ready to leave, and so are you," he stated. "Do you think your headmistress would mind terrible if you were to spend one night at home, Harry?"

"I'll have to talk with her, but I think it'll be alright."

He would beg if he had to.

-o-

It was nice to be home, if just for a little while. It had been accepted for Harry to stay at home one night, and Severus was picking him up Saturday afternoon, after dinner. That was fine by the teen. It was just after lunch, he would be able to eat dinner, breakfast, lunch and dinner again with his uncle.

However, Diablos did not look to be particularly interested in food. Neither he nor Salerna had eaten lunch but while the white-haired man happily dug in Diablos only poked around. Cissi would arrive soon to check on her husband, and then notify Ginny about it as she was still in school.

After a half-hour Diablos gave up trying to eat, pushed the chair back and said:

"I'm going… to lie down for a bit."

Salerna and Harry looked at each other; which one of them would check on him? Salerna subtly gestured towards the man, and Harry knew he was being asked to do it. He nodded and satisfied, Salerna said:

"That sounds pretty good. Maybe I'll do that after I've talked to Cissi."

Without another word Diablos slunk out of the dining hall, and they barely heard his quiet footsteps up the stairs.

"Give him a couple of minutes alone before you go up to him," Salerna advised. "He needs that."

"I know."

Of that the white-haired man had no doubt.

-o-

The manor was quiet when it was almost empty of people. Harry had gotten used to the fact people always seemed to come and go, a constant stream, noises working themselves into every corner of each room.

But now it was empty beside him, his uncle, Salerna and now Cissi, the latter two in the living-room and Harry slowly walking towards Diablos' room.

He wondered how the others were doing. They were probably planning where to have the next fight with Dumbledore, how to do it, what to use, when and so on. Tom rarely left the grounds, so he had immediately jumped onto the idea of giving Odium a hand with choosing the places. Arsenic and the Weasleys always had some business to do, and went to one place after another.

Sirius and Remus were currently in England, but would shortly return back to Florence. Funny how they seemed to live at the manor more than at their own place. Not that Harry complained much.

He arrived at the room and knocked softly on the door before opening it, poking his head inside.

Diablos waved him in, lying on the bed, eyes closed and having changed from his teaching-robes to a pair of black jeans and a red T-shirt. His hand returned to where it had been lying, on his stomach with his other one and Harry kicked off his shoes before getting on the bed.

He remembered times when he had to climb up on this bed, using every ounce of his power to get up, seeing Diablos chuckle slightly at the sight before giving him a hand. He had been rather small at the time, so it was no wonder why it had been such a challenge. Now it was easy. Before Harry felt like he could run around in the bed, it was that huge in his eyes. Now it was just a normal king-sized bed.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Practising breathing."

"That's good. Is it helping?"

"A little bit."

"Not upset anymore?"

"… Let me get to you on that one," Diablos said and opened his eyes. "I'm not in a homicidal rage; that has to count for something."

"That's also good," Harry admitted and lay down next to his uncle, shrugging off his robe and letting it land on the floor.

"Dora will most upset over your handling of clothing."

"I know. But she's not here right now. And you're not telling her."

"Oh, am I not?"

Harry elbowed him.

-o-

By the time Salerna knocked on the door, Diablos was already asleep, and Harry moved over to the door swiftly, pulling it open. The room was semi-dark, mostly due to Harry pulling the curtains over the windows when Diablos had started to doze off. The man could sleep practically anywhere, but it was common knowledge to his nephew that the raven-haired man slept better when it was dark. Salerna tip-toed in, hand in hand with Cissi who winked at Harry and said quietly:

"The devil has passed out on us?"

"He was just really tired," Harry said as he closed the door.

"Well, it's better that he was tired than that he made something blow up," Salerna said.

Cissi kissed Harry on the cheek, and let herself be dragged behind her husband as he walked up to the bed.

"We'll be going soon," she told the teen. "Unless you want someone else here while you wait for the others to return?"

"No, it's okay," he said. "I'll be fine. It shouldn't take them a long time to wrap up and get back here."

He hoped that would be soon.

-o-

After the two left Harry went down to the kitchen to get some snacks while he read a book in his uncle's room. Dora busied herself with the task, and asked:

"Master isn't awake?"

"No, he's asleep."

"Master ate very little today."

"I think he'll do better by dinner." If Harry had the heart to wake him up.

Dora pursed her lips but said nothing more about the subject. Within ten minutes she had made him tea, a couple of sandwiches, biscuits and some chilled juice in a high glass.

"Dora, I have had lunch already…"

She put the tray in his hands and gave him her famous death-glare. He shut up, nodded his thanks and left her to let her prepare dinner and fix up around the manor. There was no use going against Dora once she used her glare; it even made Tom back off, and had on occasion shocked Voldemort into silence.

Just for fun, Harry counted how long it took for anyone to come. They had all been told of the events by the time Diablos, Harry and Salerna had made it back to Potter manor in Florence.

It took fifteen minutes, the cup of tea drained along with one sandwich and then Arsenic came inside. With her was the scent of various potions ingredients, and she looked over at Harry.

"Hi," he said quietly. "How are your potions going?"

"Progress," she replied. "Took me until now to finish the batches I had started. Is he sleeping?"

"Yeah."

She moved over to the bed, smoothing back Diablos' hair to have a look at her friend. "Odium and Tom should be heading back here soon," she said. "The Weasleys too."

"That's good."

"Sirius and Remus aren't coming until dinner. Locking down the house and everything."

"They're locking down the house?"

"It was Diablos' idea," she said and walked over to where Harry was sitting, plopping down and taking a sandwich. "For them to stay here until Dumbledore was gone."

That was most likely the best action. It wasn't like they didn't have rooms here. Diablos' wish of a quiet manor seemed to have been completely destroyed over the last few years. The people didn't decrease but seemed to increase instead.

Although, Harry was rather sure that deep down Diablos didn't really mind.

-o-

He had failed.

Once more, no, for the third time he had failed to bring down one of Diablos' acquaintances. He had not even been able to take Sirius out before he managed to escape. He had most injuries though.

And how stupid to attack the second one. Too late Dumbledore had seen it was a vampire, and a quite hot-tempered vampire. He had chosen to run though. Why was that? Not even the great self-proclaimed leader of the Light was sure if he could stand up against a serious duel with a vampire. Of course, a vampire akin to the one he had tried to kill; an old one, someone who had lived much longer than him.

And the third. The third… he had thought that man was going to be easy. One swift move, and the man's head was going to roll on the ground.

Sure, Dumbledore had made the swift move. But instead of decapitating the man's head the attack had only sliced up half of the neck, barely cut through skin, and then that blasted man was gone. Dumbledore had stood surprised, gaping, then turning around to look. The man had vanished in a matter of seconds, in a zone where Dumbledore had prevented Apparition.

Only then did he start to think what the man was good at. The former headmaster had managed to get a hold of some basic information about Salerna Maga as a teacher.

Endurance.

The word mocked him.

Salerna was rumoured to be one of the quickest wizards in the world. He could cover great distances in short time with a magic release in his legs. No wonder he practically vanished from sight once he ran from Dumbledore. Before the man had understood Salerna was gone the guy must have been hundred of metres away, maybe he had even Disapparated.

No matter what they had done, Dumbledore realized it was no use going after the people close to Diablos.

They were just too damn annoying to deal with.

Not to mention they got away as well.

-o-

He blamed it on the wind.

And on Coran for not being there.

Over the years Harry had gotten used to have the snake with him, and when the cocky voice refuse to install itself at nights when Harry was going to sleep the teen simply could not fall asleep. He need to hear Coran complain about the mouse who made him chase the thing all around the Slytherin common room, or the student that had stared at them too long, or about the boring hellish hours, also called classes, or whatever nonsense Coran could come up with. He'd complain, voice getting more slurred the more tired the snake would get and soon it would be down to mumbles and mutterings, a light smacking sound that told the teen Coran had gone off to dream-land.

So, yeah… everything was Coran's fault.

Harry stared into the flames in the hearth. He heard Tom gently turn page in whatever book he was reading, and dragged the blanket a little closer to him. The man was out of sight, on the second floor of the library while Harry was on the first. He knew there was always a fire going in the library and despite whatever temperature it was outside the inside of the manor stayed cool, sometimes cold like tonight.

He had wanted to go into Diablos but stood against the temptation. The man had woken up briefly to get some food down his stomach, spent the next hour reading with Harry (mostly out loud, Harry knew he was way too old for it but Diablos' voice was nice to listen on, you enjoyed it while you actually listened what he talked about) before going back to bed around nine.

That was five hours ago, and Harry still could not sleep. He was still blaming the snake… or the wind. It had made the windows rattle, and he hadn't liked that.

"You really should go to bed."

Harry jumped and whipped his head up to stare at Tom. What Tom saw was rings underneath the teen's eyes and weariness within the depths, and he sighed.

"Come on. You said the wind was annoying, and that when Coran wasn't with you it was harder to fall asleep, right?"

Harry followed Tom out of the room. "Yeah. What about it?"

"Are you embarrassed that you want to go to your uncle?"

The blush that spread on Harry's cheeks told Tom everything. He chuckled and stopped outside the man's room.

"I'll be fine," Harry insisted. "I'll just…"

"Just what? It's two in the morning, and you won't fall asleep just like that. The fact you're even awake at this time if proof enough."

"I'm already sixteen! I can be up at two!"

"Yeah, but when did you get up this morning? Six-thirty? Earlier? Your body is tired."

Harry bit his lip and looked away.

"Only a child would go to his parent when he couldn't sleep," he said. "I'm not a kid anymore."

"Listen to this," Tom said, "and don't you tell it to anyone. You hear me? No one."

Harry nodded hesitantly.

"Diablos wished he could have done that," Tom said. "Go to an adult when he couldn't sleep. I died in my original time when he was around your age, and he desperately wanted to have someone that close even then. Just once in a while, it's nice knowing you can go to someone and be welcomed, even though for the stupid reason you couldn't sleep."

Harry looked down at his own feet. Then he reached for the doorknob.

"Are you going to bed?" he asked and looked at the former Dark Lord.

"You know me. Stay up at night, sleep in the day. I'm afraid I'm turning into a vampire."

Harry rolled his eyes. Tom nudged him forward, into the comforting darkness of Diablos' room and said:

"Tell him your room was too damn cold to sleep in anyway."

The teen grinned and Tom watched him until the door was closed. Then he sighed and looked down at the book he still held. He walked to his room, knowing while Harry needed that contact with his uncle occasionally Diablos craved it a lot more. He was just not confident enough to tell his nephew that.

Meanwhile, Harry let the blanket fall to the floor next to Diablos' bed and crawled underneath the warm sheets. Just knowing Diablos was within reach, knowing he could reach out one hand and touch his uncle's back, hearing Diablos' soft breath, all of it made Harry very sleepy.

He barely had time to lay his head on the pillow properly before he was asleep.

-o-

Diablos gave out a wistful sigh, lying on his side, supported by his elbow with the covers around his waist. He scanned Harry's face, but the teen was still sleeping peacefully so he continued watching.

It was getting closer to Christmas, but the usual spirit refuse to come to him. He had never been a big fan of Christmas, not even when he began to live with Mary and John and he knew why he didn't care much for the holiday this year. He had more important things to think off.

It was just that he did not want Harry to suffer from it. Harry was never happy when he knew something bothered his uncle. And there was little that the boy did not know about him. It was scary at times, how well Harry knew him, when even Salerna could get shocked.

One finger stroke down Harry's cheek, and a faint smile appeared on Diablos' lips as Harry twitched in his sleep, scrunching up his face.

Christmas spirit or not, Diablos was not going to let Dumbledore spoil their time together.

Tbc…

* * *

There we have it! Yay!

Chapter seven: Christmas! But before that, Arsenic accidently blows up a potion, which is rare for her, and it brings out a rather funny consequence… to everyone but Diablos.

Look forward to it! I don't know when to expect it but not too soon I suppose.

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter of a Lost Future **

**Summary**: Sequel to A Second Chance. Diablos and the gang are back, this time for a last painful fight against a Dumbledore from a time when war the least of people's problems.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Evil!Dumbledore, Gryffindor-bashing, siding with Voldemort-fic, time-travelling mentioned, violence and so on.

Plus you probably need to read A Second Chance to understand what's the hell's going on.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Harry Potter, but Diablos is kinda my own character. I morphed him into my own character. Plus I do own Salerna, his adoring wife Cissi, Orator and a few others.

-o-

Alright, I really didn't mean it to be this late, nor this long. But now you get lots to read!

Enjoy!

-o-

**Chapter**** Seven**

It felt like no time had passed between Salerna's attack, the day spent at home and the day they were going home for the holidays. Harry wondered if he even had done something useful during that time, or if he had just been sitting on his chair and stared into nothingness.

Seeing his notes, he guessed he had been doing something. And apparently he had been doing it good. That was always nice to know, and he hoped details would start to fill his mind of it later.

But for now he was sitting on the train to London, where Diablos would be waiting for him, probably along with Sirius and Remus. Of course everyone else's parents would be there as well and if he was not mistaken they would be having dinner with the Malfoys tonight.

"Harry?"

He turned his head back and saw Draco watch him.

"You're with us?" the blonde asked.

"Yeah, just thinking. What's up?"

"You hungry?"

"A little bit."

They had gone to the kitchens right before hurrying to the train station and now had a whole basket full with food enough for everyone in the compartment. With all the snacks that had followed, they had no need for any candy so they politely declined when the lady came by.

-o-

Diablos stuck his head out from the living-room, frowning.

What in the name of Merlin was that_ smell_?

Looking at the time he had plenty before going to England and catch Harry at the train station, so he went off in search for the origin of the smell. He decided to check the potions lab first where most smells came from nowadays. Damn Arsenic and her experiments… couldn't she do it somewhere else, like outside and far from Florence? Did she have to do it in his house, in his potions lab, making him cringe at the smell _every damn time_?

Wrenching the door open, Diablos stalked up to the woman and said:

"What are you making this time?"

"I'm not sure where it went wrong," she said and looked at her notes. "I was certain I'd get it right this time…"

"What is it?" the man asked, looking at the puttering substance. He couldn't quite decide the colour. Greyish, yellowish, greenish… something.

"It's supposed to be a sort of shrinking potion," she said and stirred some more. The puttering decided to change, charging into a simmering mess, then the bubbles grew larger and larger, and before they knew it, Diablos pushed her aside and the potions exploded right on him.

-o-

Harry was surprised to see that Odium stood by Lucius and waited for him. The Undead didn't seem uncomfortable, just a tad tense and the teen wondered what could have brought that on.

"Hey, Odium," Harry said as the group reached their guardians, or guardians' friends in Harry's case. "Where's Dia?"

"There was… an incident," Odium said. "He's perfectly fine, just… a little bit unfit to come and get you." He looked to be near fidgeting.

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

Harry looked around and saw the others seemed to listen as well.

"It's, ah, rather… sensitive," Odium said. "At least for him." Now he was fidgeting, shifting from foot to foot on the place and nearly wringing his hands.

"Odium…" Harry was getting a tiny bit worried now.

"You will see when we arrive."

"May I be so rude to request to accompany you?" Lucius asked. "He is my friend and I don't know what's wrong."

"You may," Odium said. "He's not injured or anything."

"Then what is it?"

Odium looked to the side, scratched his head and said:

"You'll see."

-o-

There was a tense silence in the manor when they entered. On the steps Arsenic sat and rubbed her head, a pout in place that made her look like a five-year old caught in the act of stealing cookies from the kitchen. Harry blinked at that.

"It wasn't my fault," she insisted, and it sounded like she had said it more than a few times.

"I'm quite sure we all have heard that already," Tom said as he leaned against the doorway to the living room. "Is he still sulking?"

"More like planning my immediate death," Arsenic muttered.

"Alright, what the hell is going on?" Harry asked.

"Go and see for yourself. He's in his room. Just… don't laugh?" the former Dark Lord suggested.

Harry walked up the stairs, just wondering what he would see. The silence only seemed to grow thicker the closer he got to Diablos' room, and he swallowed a bit as he stopped in front of it. Knocking on the door the raven-haired teen opened it and said:

"Dia. It's me."

"Oh… hi."

Wrong.

Totally wrong.

Fundamentally wrong.

Harry's eyes widened and he wrenched the door wide open.

Diablos looked at him, sighed, and the eyes closed for a moment.

"I'm not very good with my wand right now so luckily I found some old clothes that you wore… Harry? Are you alright?"

"Dia… you are…"

"Yes, I know."

"S… s… you are… small."

As in young-looking.

As in tiny.

As in looking like a child.

Diablos' body was that of an eight-year old, dressed in a shirt and pants that Harry vaguely remembered being his more formal clothing when he was that age. But to come back to the subject… his uncle was now the size of a child.

"Are you going to stare at me all day?"

Even the voice was that of an eight-year old.

Harry slid down to the floor, and his last cohere thought was how innocent his uncle looked like that.

-o-

When the teen came to he smelled Diablos, and knew he was lying in the man's bed. It was still unmade from the morning, and the sheets were soft against his exposed skin. Gave him some kind of grounding to earth.

"I told you already, it's just a little shock. Aren't you the healer here?"

"Why would he faint just like that?"

"Lower your voice, please, it's kind of high-pitched when you're this size."

It was Diablos and Arsenic and Harry groaned to alert them he was awake. A small hand touched his cheek and his eyes opened.

Diablos' childlike face looked down on him.

"Don't faint again," the red-eyed man warned, pointed a finger at him. It felt strange to think of him as a man, even stranger to address Diablos as a boy.

"I'm alright," Harry said. Sort of. "Just… what happened?"

"Her fault," Diablos said and jerked his head in Arsenic's direction.

"I didn't know the potion would blow up!" she protested. "Beside, you threw me to the side so it hit yourself instead!"

"So you're saying it's my fault? Who made the potion? And its horrid smell led me to the potions lab from the start!"

"Alright, don't start arguing," Harry said and sat up. He noted his robe was off, leaving him in shirt and pants, his shoes off and by the bed. "First of all, how long will Dia stay like that?"

"I calculated a week," Arsenic said. "To the day before Christmas."

"I don't want to be like this for a week," Diablos muttered. "Put me in a coma and wake me up when I'm back to normal." If Harry squinted, he definitely saw his uncle pouting.

"It won't be that bad," the woman tried with. "It's not like everyone hasn't already seen…"

"It's not that! I feel like eight," Diablos said. "My body is eight. It's weak. I can't do anything."

As they both looked they saw tiredness in his eyes.

"Does it mean… you're sleepy?" Arsenic said. "It's nearing dinner and you have been doing anything but resting. You refused lunch as well."

"I'm not sleepy!" Diablos protested.

Harry reached out with a finger, and poked his uncle on the chest. Diablos lost his balance and fell on his bum on the floor. He glared up at his nephew even as he smothered a yawn.

"You are tired," Harry concluded. "Are you hungry too?"

His stomach growled, and Diablos looked to the side. "… A little bit."

"I'll go and let Dora know we all would like something to eat," Arsenic said. As she opened the door, she turned around and mouthed to Harry, 'Look after him.'

The teen nodded and she shut the door as he slid his legs over the bed, reaching down to help Diablos up again. The body was frail in his hands and he was scared to break it.

"Were you this thin as a child?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Diablos said and rubbed his arms. The bedroom was cool, and the man had only a simple shirt and pants on him, walking barefoot. His normal body could take that and much more. This childlike body could not.

Harry looked over at the box with old clothes and went over there, fishing around to find a sweater of sorts, something warmer. He doubted Diablos would appreciate being wrapped up in a robe that could drown him.

A few minutes later he had wrestled a black jumper on Diablos and some socks, and now watched his uncle walk down the stairs, still feeling sort of on the wrong side of reality. Diablos always walked gracefully, and the stride was usually slow but sure.

To see the man hold onto the rail as he walked down, more carefully because his legs were a lot shorter than usual, was strange. Harry had to push down the urge to help him.

This was going to be a long and weird week.

-o-

Salerna ignored the indigent shouts that Diablos made as he lifted the small body under the armpits, and also avoided the kicking legs.

"You're tiny," the white-haired man eventually said to which Diablos only started kicking more ferociously, long hair flying around as he started doing a forceful back and forth movement with his head. Harry hid his chuckles behind his hand.

Once the man was let down a small foot hit Salerna's shin, making him yelp and Diablos ran away from the white-haired man, ending up behind Tom who merely raised an eyebrow at the whole ordeal.

Diablos had already been lifted by the older Weasley twins, then the younger (they always spent Christmas at Potter Manor in Florence and had arrived just in time for dinner), the older Bill had poked at him while the younger one had yet to arrive. Salerna had come over just for a little while after he had gotten word of what had happened.

Now he could set down his leg and he glared over at the small body hiding behind the former Dark Lord.

"You will regret that later," he warned.

"As if," Diablos replied. One hand fisted in the black robe unconsciously.

Dinner had been rather quiet, despite Diablos' temporary form. He had reached to the table just fine and had eaten enough to satisfy a bird. Harry knew the man's appetite had probably shrunk along with his body but it still did not make him happy. The teen knew he himself hadn't eaten that little when being in that age.

But now Diablos was up on the couch beside him and against his will the small body had begun to lean and his eyelids droop. The others were busy with other things, only Salerna was free and he sat down next to the two.

"You better get him to bed," the white-haired man said at Harry.

"Don't treat me… like a… kid," Diablos mumbled.

"Sure we won't, darling," Salerna said and patted his friend's head.

Diablos was too tired to snarl at him.

-o-

This was beyond weird. Beyond scary. Hell, beyond anything. Harry shook his head and opened the door with his free hand, then bringing it up while pushing the door with his side, one arm keeping Diablos from falling and the second hand securing the small head to his shoulder.

Diablos had lasted until eleven before sleep finally claimed his small body. His mind had been awake but the body was too young to keep up. So he had fallen asleep between Harry and Salerna, and the teen had excused himself to put Diablos to bed. The others had begun consider that too, so the red-eyed man hadn't gotten to bed as early as he had feared. Then again, he was normally up until one or two, bustling with energy.

Harry gently put down the sleeping man, boy, child, he still couldn't call his uncle that and it all got really complicated so he stopped thinking and started pulling off the sweater from Diablos. Once that was gone he simply tucked his uncle in and looked at him for a while. He wondered if this was how Diablos felt when tucking Harry in at night before, when Harry was young enough to climb up in Diablos' lap and fall asleep there, lulled by the warmth his uncle provided and the gentle cracking of a fire going.

Something nudged his leg and Harry looked down to see Coran slowly make his way up onto the bed. He politely waited until the snake was comfortably curled around his arm, making his way up to Harry's shoulder.

"_Is your uncle asleep?"_Coran asked.

"_Yeah."_

Coran took a look at the young face. _"Ya know, he doesn't look as scary with his eyes closed. Here he's kinda cute."_

"_I dare you to say that when he's awake," _Harry chuckled.

"_No thanks__. I like my head just where it is."_

"_Come on; let's get to bed. Dora will take care of the guests."_

-o-

Diablos managed to come downstairs by himself and looked around. It was early in the morning so the manor was quiet. To his dismay he was too hungry to enjoy the silence, and walked over to the kitchen. Kitchens were actually the places he had learned the best even though he hadn't been the one to do the cooking in this time. At the Dursleys, he did it almost all the time. And he did not enjoy it. But once he got to this time, and to the Potters, he found himself in the kitchen nonetheless, until one day:

_Mary called on him again. Diablos didn't answer. He watched the old house-elf mix the ingredients together in the bowl. The house-elf, named Kittie, barely heard anything and mostly just baked cookies and bread. Mary let her do it, and worked around her. So Kittie didn't hear the woman call until the door to the kitchen opened._

_"Diablos, I've been calling on you for five minutes," she said. "Why didn't you answer?"_

_The four-year old stared down at the bowl as if it held all life's secrets. She walked closer and continued, "What do you see?"_

"_Things," Diablos replied._

"_I know you like the kitchen but we are going out for dinner, and you're already dressed up for it."_

_Diablos looked at Kittie. She continued to mix but looked up at him. He saw the age in her eyes, and she said:_

"_Kittie will have cookies ready for masters and missis."_

_Diablos reached forward and hugged her. Kittie blinked, once, then a calm fell over her and she patted his back. _

"_Kittie knows," she said. "Kittie knows, young master."_

_Mary wondered what they were doing. He had started to look at her that way not long ago, and it worried her. He had seen so many things that everything about him was as far away as a child you could get. For now she lifted him up and said:_

"_We'll be back in a few hours, Kittie."_

_She nodded, and Diablos waved. He didn't look back once but his body was tense in her arms._

_When they came back the cookies stood on the dinner table and Kittie was dead. Diablos didn't set his foot in the kitchen for a long time._

He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts. He had not known Kittie for a long time but he knew she was going to die, and she wanted to die her way; alone and quietly. He had granted her request by following with Mary and John out. But he had wanted to stay, because he knew that being alone when death hovered over you was not as fun as one would expect. He walked into the kitchen.

Dora's eyes widened a little when seeing him although she had seen him already. She had not been prepared to see him this small again.

"Does master wish breakfast?" she asked. They were nearly the same height.

"Yes," he said. "I'll take it in the living-room."

"Dora shall bring breakfast to master in a few minutes."

He went to the living room and climbed up on the couch. Six more days like this. The horror. At least he could make sure to go to bed earlier. He's quite sure someone carried him last night. If he knew right, Harry probably did it, and he felt his face redden in embarrassment. His own nephew carried him like a toddler! He pressed his hands to his face.

"Dia, what are you doing?"

He looked up to see Harry walk inside still in his night-clothes and plopped down on the couch next to the man.

"I'm trying to suffocate myself with my hands," Diablos mumbled. "Dora's making breakfast."

"That's good, I'm hungry."

"Why are you up?" he asked. "Don't you sleep until late like all other teenagers?"

"Not always," Harry protested. "And you? Don't kids sleep long?"

"No, they don't. They go to bed early and are up ridiculously early."

"Yeah? Speaking from experience?"

Diablos raised an eyebrow. "I still shudder at the memory of you being four, waking me up at five in the morning with the demand to play with you," he said.

"I didn't do that!" Harry said.

"Oh yes, you did," the man replied. "Scrambled up the best you could and jumped on my back."

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"Nope."

Dora interrupted with breakfast. Putting the tray down she looked at them both.

"Young master did jump on master when young master was younger," Dora said and then disappeared back to the kitchen.

"She always agrees with you!" Harry moaned.

"Of course she does, because I'm always right!"

"No, you're not!" Harry took up a toast and chewed on it, glaring over at Diablos who only wore a smug smile. It looked scarier when it was on a child's face. Harry swallowed and continued, "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Yes?"

"How did you and Dora meet? I mean, in this time?"

"That was random, but alright," Diablos said and reached forward to grab a toast as well. He studied it for a bit, then continued, "You know you could buy house-elves in Diagon Alley before?"

"Really?"

"Yeah," the man said and held the toast in one hand, then the other. "When I was eight, we needed a house-elf to help with the household."

He remembered that day very clearly.

_The store was surprisingly light and Diablos blinked a few times when he got inside. Mary's hand on his shoulder for a moment, then pushing him forward slightly and she said to him:_

"_Why don't you have a look around? I and John will talk to that man over there." A man in his mid-forties came walking towards them, kind smile and he greeted to John. Diablos vanished between the small rooms, avoiding looking into the windows on the doors._

_Mary didn't like that they had brought Diablos along to buy a house-elf. The store was clean, the elves were well looked after but she still knew it didn't look pretty. They were in small rooms, cages, with locked doors and unable to get out. It tore at her heart but she also knew they barely got to be there before someone bought them and brought them to a home. She shook her head and went over to her husband._

"_They are all very hard-working elves that have come from unfortunate homes or homes where the last head of the family died without leaving an heir," the man said to both of them. "I can assure you none of these will disappoint you."_

"_None of them?" Mary looked around._

"_Well, there is one I wouldn't recommend," he said. "She's been with five families so far but in the end she is always brought back here. It's sad, really."_

"_Why is she sent back?"_

"_She doesn't respond well to orders nor requests," the store owner stated and crossed his arms. "Her name's Dora. I like her, she's kind when she wants to be, it's just no master seems good enough for her. She told me once she was waiting for her master to come."_

"_She belonged to someone when you first got her?" Mary asked._

"_No, not that I knew of. She was found wandering around the countryside, alone."_

_John started to talk about the other house-elves and the owner seemed happy enough to leave the subject. He didn't want to raise any hopes for anymore families about her. While they talked Mary had a look around, trying to get a feeling of what they needed in the house._

_Someone who helped her with the cleaning and cooking was a start. They hadn't gotten a new house-elf since Kittie died but now with a kid on eight years and another at two she was a busy woman. Although Diablos handled himself just fine. He had begun to worry her a little more than he already did; so grown up, so far away from her yet so close._

_Mary hadn't expected a lot of hugs and kisses from him but it was like he almost shied away from a comforting touch for a long time. She remembered the few times with fondness, when he allowed her to pick him up or when he had curled up in her arms in the late evening. When James had been born, he had looked at her as if wondering if they were going to throw him away when they got their own son. She hated when he got that look, that lost look that spoke of so much pain. She didn't want to leave him. She loved him. Diablos was like her son and she would do anything for him._

_Thinking of whom, where had he gone? Mary walked a little further away to try spot her eldest. And soon she did._

_He was just opening one of the doors. She was about to walk up to him and ask him what he was doing when an arm stretched out._

_The house-elf's hand landed on Diablos' cheek. He did not move. A house-elf moved out, a female, and she looked at him with large eyes. She seemed near tears. Mary tilted her head to the side to read the name of the house-elf, which stood on the side of the door to the room._

_Dora._

_Dora stepped closer, and then she smiled and said:_

"_Master."_

"_Dora," Diablos replied, and there was a connection between them. Mary saw that this house-elf had been waiting for the red-eyed child. She turned back to the store owner and John and said:_

"_John, I think we'll take Dora."_

"_Mary, he just told us she's not the best choice," John said and gestured to the man._

"_John," she interrupted. "Look."_

_He did, and both he and the owner stared._

_Dora touched Diablos' hair, held his hands, ran her fingers down his arms and said again:_

"_Master. Master."_

_If Mary looked closely, there was a smile on Diablos' lips._

"She really was in a shop?" Harry asked. "Huh. I didn't think of house-elves like that. In shops."

"It's more discreet now, both for the people who owns the stores, and for the house-elves," Diablos said.

"It felt like they showed the house-elves up like animals."

"Do you think the animals like it?" Diablos asked and looked over at Harry. The eyes were too old for that face. The teen wondered if Mary looked at that young face, and saw those eyes. "They just don't have a choice."

"Dia… did you see something different… from the life you came from?"

Diablos' lips tightened and he looked forward for a while. Harry heard steps on the second floor but no one came down.

"Humans in cages," the man said, the young voice quiet and sad. "They put humans in cages… children they had caught… women too. The men they killed instantly."

"Who? The light or the dark?"

"Neither. Dumbledore's group. They had grown as twisted as he," Diablos said. "He used to be a lot more normal. Then something went wrong. Something made him believe what he did was right. As if he was a god. The lord of light, that's what he wanted to be called."

"What happened? To the humans in the cages?"

Diablos looked up at him. "They all died eventually," he said. "Can we not talk about such depressing things at breakfast?"

"What are we going to talk about then?"

"I don't know. You pick the subject."

"You're going to regret asking me that."

"I know. Now shoot."

"Let me think…" Harry took a strawberry and chewed on it. Diablos was still picking at his toast, ripping off small pieces to eat. "Tell me about Mary and John."

Diablos looked at him. "What do you want to know?" he asked.

"How they were."

"They were nice," Diablos said. "I didn't have much experience of parents before they adopted me. So I thought everything about them was nice and kind. Mary wished desperately to become a mother, and she saw it as her job to make me forget whatever horrible things had happened to me in the past. She wanted me happy. Can't say I fulfilled her wishes."

"It's hard to change," Harry said, "once you've gone one way."

"Yes, more or less. I tried to change, for her. But it didn't work. I was scared I had disappointed her that when James was born I expected them to throw me out."

"You didn't."

"I did. I was freaked out, because I was too small to use the magic I knew I had so I couldn't survive long on the streets," Diablos said. "I didn't have much confidence in adults, even though I could be considered an adult too."

"But they didn't throw you out."

"No, they didn't. It was John who grew closer to James though. He didn't understand me the way Mary did. He didn't know what to think of me, a child plucked up from the streets."

Diablos reached for a cup of tea.

"Is it true you didn't spend Christmas with them while being at school?" the teen asked. Diablos looked over at him. "Sirius told me that."

"I and James had a fall-out, you know that," Diablos replied. "None of us were happy that first Christmas when I was in first year. I went back and didn't spend another Christmas with them until I was eighteen."

Harry tried to imagine Christmas without his uncle. It didn't work very well.

"Wasn't that lonely?"

"I was used to it. I think it was harder on them," Diablos said. "Knowing there was one person missing. Even though James had a grudge against me, he still knew it wasn't right."

"How do you know that?"

"He told me that on our first Christmas together after I finished school."

Diablos put the cup down and looked away. His small hands fidgeted and he drew his legs up, wrapping his arms around them.

"How was dad before you started school?"

"A chubby cry-baby that kept wrapping his arms around me and wiping away snot on my shirt."

"For real?"

"For real," Diablos said. "When it didn't annoy me, I thought it was a bit cute."

"And then you had repeat performance from me," Harry said.

"Well, you were a bit different. Thank god."

"I didn't wipe all the snot on your shirt?"

"You didn't have it," Diablos said. "I think I scared you enough the first time it happened."

"Let me guess; I did it on a bad day?"

"More or less. I'm sure I kept my voice down but people say I speak the truth with my eyes sometimes."

Harry laughed. "I must have pissed my pants," he said.

Diablos sniffed and pushed at the tray with his toes.

"Hey, don't make it fall to the ground."

"Can we choose another topic now?" the man asked. "I don't feel like talking more about it."

"Okay. How do you beat Salerna in chess?"

"Me, or just in general?"

"General. He's coming today and I'm going to crush him."

While he talked strategy with Harry Tom entered the living room, and he looked to have been awake for some time. Whether he had waited until the two had finished talking about Mary or John or just came in at this moment Diablos didn't know but he suspected the former.

The manor slowly woke up around them, and Diablos leaned back against the couch. Even though he had said he didn't want to talk more about it he still thought about his family.

Family. That was a word he had seldom used.

Maybe he should find some pictures of Mary and John. Even on James too. There should be some family photos left. Diablos knew they had gotten those, remembered how Mary fussed over his hair and kept pulling at his clothes. How she told James to smile, rubbing his cheeks, and smacking John over the head and telling him to stand straight.

"Stretch! You're no role model for yours sons!"

Sons. She had always said that. There had been a brief time when James got mad about it. That Diablos wasn't really Mary and John's child and yet they called him their son. By the time school had finished for Diablos and the incident with Sirius had occurred, the two brothers were like strangers. Diablos didn't know what James liked anymore, and James couldn't look him in the eyes. They barely managed to be in the same room.

Until James had gathered his Gryffindor courage one late night.

_Diablos opened his eyes sleepily as he heard the door to his room open. He raised his head from the pillow and saw a shape closing in. James' hand found his shoulder a moment later._

"_Go back to sleep," the boy said quietly. He climbed into the bed, snuggling down under the sheets and laid his head on the pillow. Diablos let his own fall down and looked at him._

"_Why are you here?" he asked._

"_To apologise," James replied. "I haven't been nice to you for a long time, and I don't expect you to immediately forgive me for that. I just want to say I'm sorry. It hurt a lot, for both of us."_

_Diablos closed his eyes. His body refused to tense up, but slipped deeper under. James was not angry with him anymore. James said he was sorry. It was like he had been waiting for that for a long time._

_Diablos drew James closer with an arm and he could feel his little brother relax. James placed his head on the teen's chest and said:_

"_Good night, Dia."_

_Unknowingly in the future, James' son would take over that nickname._

He came back to the room and Harry looked down at him. Diablos wanted his body back. This one was so fragile and small it annoyed him. He hadn't been small in a long time. Plus it made him think back on the past, and he really wanted to decide those times himself thank you very much.

"You're back? You spaced out for a minute."

"I'm fine," Diablos said.

Tom was sitting next to the couch in one of the armchairs, a book in his hands and a cup of tea resting on the arm of the chair. The older Weasley twins were up as well, lying on the carpet in front of the fire with Coran. The older Bill was sitting in another armchair, reading as well.

"Sirius and Remus are up as well," Harry said. "They went to the library to get a book, then they'd be back."

"Why did they all decide to gather here?"

"Because Salerna's coming any minute and they want to see me slaughter him at chess?"

"Very funny," the man muttered and tucked his hands into the shirt sleeves. He wanted to lie down on the carpet with the twins, if just for the sake of the fire's warmth. He weighted the options, the whys and glanced over at his nephew. Dora had apparently entered with a tray filled with sweets and more tea, and everyone seemed to eat from it.

"Dia, you're cold, aren't you?"

"… Yes."

"Then go sit at the fire. I'll kick anyone who comments."

"Like you can do that," Diablos said with a smile.

"Hah! Watch me!"

Diablos shook his head but got down from the couch, stepping lightly around the table and made his way over to the carpet. George discovered him first and gave his brother a shove so he could get a nice spot. Fred kicked George in the side and grinned over at the raven-haired man.

"Couldn't resist our good looks?" he asked.

"As if," Diablos snorted and sat down. He stretched out his feet towards the fire, he was barefoot and maybe that had been a bad idea. They had gotten a little cold.

He heard the others talk and settle down. A warmth spread in his chest, the one that had ignited in him the first Christmas he spent holding his own father in his arms, James a mere infant with no idea of what the future would hold.

-o-

"This is so embarrassing."

Tom looked down at Diablos who outright refused to look at him. The former Dark Lord shrugged and continued up the stairs, saying:

"It will pass. You've seen me at some embarrassing moments, have you not?"

"But being carried like this… so _humiliating_…"

"Harry said he liked it," the man commented as he opened the door to Diablos' room. Apparently Salerna had planned to take the two Potters somewhere and Diablos needed other clothes for that. However, both Salerna and Harry went crazy when they saw how poorly Diablos treated his feet, and more or less ordered Tom to carry him. Diablos had not been fast enough in his escape and was caught by the man.

Diablos said nothing at that. He let his head drop down on Tom's shoulder and a few moments later he was put down on the bed. The man went over to the box with Harry's old clothing.

"Did he mention exactly what you would be doing?" Tom asked.

"No," Diablos replied. "Just that I should dress a little warmer."

He was changed within minutes and successfully shrunk a pair of shoes to himself.

"You know, you look way too adult-dressed," Tom said.

"What? It's just a shirt."

"Yeah, but still…"

"Don't be ridiculous. I dressed this way when I was younger."

"What did your parents have to say about that?"

"John laughed at it," Diablos said. "But he also liked it. Said I looked serious. With my red eyes I probably looked a little scary too."

"I'd agree with the people who said that."

Diablos kicked him.

-o-

He was glad Salerna did not try picking him up again and he just had to hold onto the man's arm as they Apparated to the location. Salerna went back once more to pick up Harry. As soon as the teen arrived a grin spread on his face.

"We're going horse-riding?" he exclaimed and looked at the white-haired man.

"Yep! Horse-riding, a walk around town and dinner," the man said. "And yes, Diablos, I've already discussed it with Dora. She knows you're not coming home until late evening."

"Good," the man said. "Otherwise she might send a search-party."

"Or worse, come searching herself," Harry said. "With the largest spoon as her weapon."

"Ouch," Salerna said. He had been hit with it more than once. "Anyway, let's get going! Diablos is riding with me."

"I knew something like that was coming," Diablos moaned.

"Come on, you think you can control one of those on your own?" Salerna asked and pointed at one of the horses. "One great yank and they'll break off your arms."

"There is something called magic."

"And you know horses aren't too friendly responding to that. Just let me handle the reins. You can chase me all you want when you turn back to your normal self."

"You are so going to regret saying that."

Meanwhile Harry was already at the stables, and Diablos saw the teen was practically vibrating on the spot. He still had a great love for riding, and he was in heaven each time the two men decided to take him out. It had always been that way, just him, Diablos and Salerna.

He could barely keep himself from letting the horse run free as they started on the trek around the area. Diablos was sitting in front of Salerna and seemed to have ignored the fact just where he was sitting in favour to breath in the fresh air.

Soon the horses were let free, and Diablos smiled as Harry's magic began to vibrate of excitement. Salerna kept up with the teen, the speed making Diablos' hair fly. It was the white-haired man who had taught him to enjoy riding a horse, to enjoy the feeling it gave.

_Diablos looked doubtfully at the horse Salerna presented to him. _

"_We're going to take it slow, alright?" the man said. "Come on, I'll help you sit up on her."_

_The red-eyed man slowly went up to Salerna's side. He had never been this close to a horse. Carefully he stretched out a hand and touched the neck. It was warm, and the horse rubbed the mule against his shoulder. Diablos began to back._

"_No, she likes you," Salerna said and held a steady hand against Diablos' back, holding him still. "I can have someone hold her steady while I help you get up."_

"_No, it's okay," the man replied. "What do I do?"_

_Salerna instructed and with a little help from the man Diablos was sitting in the saddle. He held the reins as the white-haired man had showed him and for the first time in a long time his heart was throbbing._

"_You nervous?" Salerna asked._

"_Terrified," the man replied. He could ride a broom at full speed towards the ground but was scared of a horse? He hadn't even been this nervous with Buckbeak in the past._

"_Alright. We'll start with me leading her. Just hold loosely to the reins and relax."_

_The first lap he was still tense but by the second he had relaxed and when the third came he was even enjoying it._

It hadn't taken him long to start steering the horse himself, and before Salerna knew it, Diablos let loose and let the horse run with all its might.

When his family had visited during the summer after James' third year Diablos hadn't known they were coming. It was a surprise visit, and Salerna took them to the stables where they always went to go horse-riding. It was the first time they had seen him on a horse.

As James told him later, it looked like he was flying on the ground, the horse jumping over any obstacles in its way, Diablos bent over the mane and his hair flying free. James had never seen him look so free.

He did feel free as well. Now, even without the control of the reins, he felt as good as always. The horse carried them around the trek, and Diablos enjoyed every minute of it.

"That was great!" Harry said with a grin as they walked down the street of a small wizard village.

"You always think it's great," Diablos replied.

"You're just upset you weren't allowed to ride one yourself," the teen said.

"Hn."

"Alright, what should we do until dinner?" Salerna asked. "We got an hour or two before that."

"Are there any bookstores?" Harry asked, looking around.

"There's one around the corner."

Diablos hated to admit it but as Harry entered he stopped Salerna from doing the same. The white-haired man crouched down before him and said:

"What's wrong?"

"My legs hurt," Diablos said and looked to the side.

"Oh. You want me to…?"

"Yeah… yeah, I guess."

Salerna nodded and lifted the small body up, easily settling Diablos on his hip. He walked into the store and saw Harry waiting for them. The teen got worried when he saw his uncle perched on Salerna's hip but the white-haired man waved at him and said:

"Don't worry, I got it. You go and look around."

"I want to look at the history section," the raven-haired man said.

"Then history section it is."

-o-

Diablos lay awake after having put himself to bed, which was a relief. He had no wish to be carried again while being half-asleep.

But he was having some trouble now with sleeping. The topic of the morning, his family, still bothered him. Mostly because he hadn't allowed himself to think too much about it. Now things kept popping up in his head. The glimmering eyes of an admiring toddler, James before Diablos began school. Then Diablos was a god in the boy's eyes. Sure, he was a bit peculiar with his formal dressing and weird red eyes, but James had always considered him a hero.

During Diablos' years at Hogwarts James had done his best to forget all those thoughts. Until Diablos had saved Sirius' life. That day, when he woke up to see his little brother at his bedside, James had looked at him with those same glittering eyes as when he was a child. He probably had not been aware of it himself, and Diablos never mentioned it.

That summer James started to hang out with him more, to try relearn him, try to make up for past mistakes, back when he had been an idiot as he himself put it. The boy followed him like a lost puppy, taking note of Diablos' every move and started to see what his brother had become.

Diablos had become elegant, graceful and very lonely. He had charming looks, even with the redness in his eyes, now in contrast with blue after the blood-adoption from the Potters, but James soon noted that Diablos was different from the rest of the three Potters. Instead of walking forward with a pleasant smile on his face, Diablos shied away from people. He kept to himself and his books. He was socially insecure. The first one Diablos allowed himself to relax with outside the family was Salerna Maga, whom the Potters met shortly after Diablos had moved to Italy. They had seen a charming man with a great social network and James had wondered how he got hooked up with his brother.

Salerna and Diablos had met when Diablos had searched for the job as Dark Arts teaching at the Auror school, and the white-haired man had been immediately drawn to the dark-headed youngster with great power but depressing character. The first few months Salerna never saw Diablos smile, all until he met up with Diablos' parents and little brother. Diablos had smiled once then, at some comment James did. The smile lit up his deep eyes, and while he did not smile again that evening the eyes did.

But before Diablos had moved James had taken a liking to watch his brother. Watch him in whatever he did. He mostly read, or played chess with himself. While James liked to dress in Muggle clothes he had never seen Diablos wear it. He was always so formal, like the wording 'casual clothing' didn't exist in his impressive mental dictionary. Not that he talked much about anything. Diablos had to be the most silent person James had known. And when he did speak, his voice was soft and calm, mostly very low. Like he was not really interested in talking. Like he never had anything he wished to say. He listened instead, listened and stored things away.

James had seen that, how Diablos watched conversations around him and how the information was neatly placed in his memory just in case. The older teenager did that a lot; memorize people's conversations, their words and their opinions as if he would need to know that one day. It made him one of the most well-informed people during parties that Mary and John dragged him to, then later, the parties Salerna forced him to.

Diablos closed his eyes again and another memory popped up. He let it play.

"_Why don't you like parties?" James asked._

_Diablos looked up from the book he was reading, Goblin wars in the 15th century, and gazed at the boy._

"_Too many people," he replied and dove back down to the pages filled with words._

"_You don't like crowds?"_

"_Just too many people," the teen said and turned page. "Too many words, too much noise, too much false joy."_

"_False joy?"_

"_You don't see it," Diablos said. "People don't always enjoy parties. They just pretend they do."_

"_That's stupid," the boy concluded and changed position on the armchair. Diablos was seated on the couch and their parents were out. Dora was busy making dinner._

"_That it is," Diablos agreed._

"_Why do you read about all those wars? I think they're boring."_

"_They amuse me," the teen said._

"_War amuses you?"_

"_Goblin wars amuse me. They fight over such ridiculous things."_

_James looked at Diablos, then grinned. "You're weird," he said._

"_I don't mind."_

"_I know you don't," James said. "That's what makes you special. And honest. You always speak your opinion and never sugar-coats it."_

"_You learned the meaning of that word recently?"_

"_Sugar-coat? Yep! I'm working to have an impressive dictionary just like you!"_

_Diablos showed a faint smile at that. James was impressed he could talk at the same time he was reading. Mary easily got distracted by conversation when she read, and preferred it to be quiet. John knew he wouldn't be able to read a book and hold a conversation at the same time so he kept the reading to late at night, when both his sons were in bed._

"_Why don't you sugar-coat it? I mean, what you say?"_

"_There is no point in doing that," Diablos replied._

"_Why not?"_

"_Then you just lie to yourself." The red-blue eyes looked up at him. James liked them, the mixture that made Diablos' eyes more unique than before._

_They were quiet for a while, Diablos turning pages and James watching him do so. The boy had homework to do but ignored it right now. He would do it later. Maybe even have Diablos to help him._

"_You're going to the party tomorrow that mum and dad are going to?" he asked._

"_They'd want me there," Diablos replied. "I'll just find myself a corner and sit there."_

"_Normal people consider that boring."_

_"Are you saying I'm not normal?"_

"_Not a chance!"_

_Diablos shook his head at that. "Sometimes it's good not to be normal."_

"_You just don't want to be like everyone else," James said and plucked at the fraying edges of his sleeve._

_Diablos was silent for a while, then said, barely loud enough so James heard it:_

"_I've never been allowed to be like everyone else."_

Diablos heard the door open, the memory fled from him, back to its corner and he rolled over. Harry crept over and got into the bed.

"Harry?" he asked.

"I couldn't sleep," the teen admitted.

Diablos accepted that answer and finally went to sleep.

-o-

Harry rushed through the wine yard, now currently turned into a battlefield and grinned. He loved it when the adults decided to let the teenagers let loose and act childish, and conjured snow. It was rare for it to snow just where he and Diablos lived so he loved it when the snow poured down on them.

For now he was in a snowball fight, everyone against everyone. Beside the two pair of Weasley twins there was Draco, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Padma and Ginny there and they all were acting way below their age. Harry didn't care. Diablos had always said it was good to act like a brat from time to time.

The man himself sat a bit away, where the snow fell more gently and he looked over at Tom.

"You had to make it a snowstorm over there, didn't you?" he said.

"Be happy I didn't make one over here too," the former Dark Lord said. Voldemort snorted at that. The Dark Lord had come along with Lucius and Narcissa for the day, and had raised an eyebrow at the sight of the small Diablos. He hadn't said anything, but there had been a small smile playing at his lips at the sight.

Bill the older sat down in the snow and then fell back.

"I thought you didn't like the snow," Diablos said.

"I'll take what small pleasure there is," Bill said. "And I do like snow. Just not too much of it."

There came laughter from the yard and Diablos was glad Salerna had put anti-freeze on the wines. Dora would be most upset if they froze. Or rather, she would go crazy and take out her anger on someone, preferably Tom as he was the one responsible for the snow.

-o-

_It was rare that James came alone to Italy. Even more surprising when he hadn't warned Diablos about it._

_So the man was surprised when he came through the door to see a pair of shoes at the entrance. Even more when he saw it was James'. He knew it was summer holidays for the now sixteen-year old teen but he had not been aware of any plans of James coming. He didn't complain though; he saw little enough of his family as it was._

_Coming into the living room he saw the teen was busy reading a book, and he gently knocked on one of the doors to alert James. He got up from the couch and whirled around._

_"Oh, it's only you," James said sheepishly._

_"What? Is there someone else living here?" Diablos asked. He then smiled a bit and continued, "There is something called forewarning, James."_

"_I wanted it to be a surprise," James said and walked up to his brother. "You look as depressing as usual."_

"_Very sweet of you," Diablos said. "You put your things in your room?"_

_James had made large eyes the first time he saw where his brother had moved. The Potter manor in Florence was about three times the size as their home in England, and it was horrible empty in the manor according to the boy. He had picked out a room during the first visit and it had been known as James' room ever since._

"_Yep, I did. Also I asked Dora to make roasted chicken the way you like it."_

"_How kind of you."_

_James had a strange smile that Diablos had not seen often before. It was his secret smile, the smile he always had when he knew something Diablos didn't._

"_What is it this time?" the red-eyed man asked._

"_What?"_

"_You're hiding something."_

"_I'll tell you later!"_

_There was no use in arguing so he decided to wait._

_James ran up to his room after dinner, instructing Diablos to stay exactly where he was, and when the teen came down it looked like the man had not moved an inch. Their eyes met and the teen said:_

"_What, you did freeze exactly in the position I saw you last in?"_

"_No," Diablos protested and closed the book. "What are you holding behind your back?"_

"_Something," the teen said. "We all know you were born somewhere in the summer, but mum and dad placed it late didn't they."_

"_Middle of August." They hadn't been that far off but Diablos would never tell them his real birthday. "Why?"_

"_Well, I'm not going to be able to be here and you can't come home."_

"_I know," Diablos said._

"_So I decided to give your gift earlier instead of sending it with an owl!"_

_Diablos was presented with a thin package wrapped in red and black. He took it from James' hand and saw the teen fidget a bit._

"_Thank you." He turned to the package and with delicate moves removed the paper. It was a box and Diablos looked wondering on James. The teen shrugged and motioned to the box. Diablos opened it._

_He took up the heavy silver chain and the necklace glimmered from the light of the fire. On the silver plate that completed the necklace was a symbol that beside Diablos only James knew about._

"_You… how did you…?"_

"_I had it custom-made," James said and scooted closer. "That symbol has always been so strong in my mind; it was as if you wouldn't let me forget it. Here, let me help you put it on."_

_The teen brushed aside his brother's long hair and Diablos held it up. Once the necklace was in place, the man realized just how heavy it was._

"_James, is this of real silver?" he asked. "Mother and father wouldn't have this made, it's too expensive."_

"_Not really, not for them. But they don't know," James said. "I paid for it. I've been saving for some time now."_

_Diablos looked up at the teen; he hadn't expected that._

"_But you… you must have been saved some for yourself?" he asked, touching the necklace almost in awe. There were few times he had that expression on, and James prided himself to have managed to get one there._

"_Well, I've been eating less sweets this year than in the last five," the teen said with a laugh. "My teeth appreciate that."_

"_You're telling me you gave up sweets for this? For me?"_

"_More or less."_

_Diablos looked down at the necklace again and bit his lip. James was well-known to have a crave for sweets, and to give that up just to give his brother a necklace._

_"Come here, you idiot."_

_James grinned and accepted the hug, hugged back even harder. Diablos' hugs were something you almost had to earn as he never initiated a hug on his own, and James loved when the hugs were given this sudden, and so sincere. When he pulled back Diablos smiled at him and said:_

"_You really like to see me act out of character."_

"_Well, I try my best. Now, Dora said something about dessert. Can it be something really, really sweet?"_

"_How sweet?"_

_"Disgustingly sweet?"_

_Diablos laughed at that. "I think Dora can do that."_

Diablos opened his eyes. He was almost used to see his room so big now when he was so small, and to think it would soon be over. He sat up on the bed, and saw Coran lie curled up on the pillow, and something larger moving underneath. He lifted the sheets.

Nagini blinked blearily at him.

"_Don't you have a Dark Lord to sleep with?"_ Diablos hissed.

"_I never knew the room so I followed the youngling."_

Diablos shook his head and got out. The great serpent followed and slithered out in the hall once Diablos go the door open. The man walked over to one of the doors and gently opened it. The magic told him it was Voldemort and he motioned to the serpent.

"_Thank you," _Nagini said and slithered inside. He wondered briefly why she hadn't felt her master's magic, or maybe she just had been too tired.

Maybe he didn't like to share his bed.

Diablos shook his head and closed the door again. From what he knew Tom hadn't minded the snake in his bed, although they had once in a while awoken to a sour Dark Lord when Nagini's cold skin made him wake up in a most undignified way.

-o-

Harry smiled as he realized Diablos had fallen asleep on them again. It was nearing elven-thirty and the man was sleeping peacefully against Harry's side.

"He's going to scream bloody murder tomorrow," Tom said as he saw the raven-haired man. "Maybe not so much if you carry him."

"It's weird to do it but I still like it," the teen said.

"This week has passed quickly. Tomorrow he should wake up at his normal size."

"Yeah, and first thing he'll want to do is to revenge on us all for all the embarrassment we put him through."

"I think I shall lock myself up in my room and have Dora come to me with the food," the former Dark Lord said.

"Sounds like a good plan." Harry rose up carefully. "I'll get him to his room."

For the first time he didn't lift Diablos up on his hip but instead placed one arm around the back and one under the knees and lifted. The man's head tilted backwards but Diablos did not wake up. The others were busy with their own things and so Harry could leave quietly.

He got the door opened with his elbow and walked over to the man's bed. The box with his old clothes barely had anything in it, but the clothes were draped over one of the chairs or on the floor. After placing Diablos on the bed and getting off the sweater and pants Harry walked over and started putting them back into the box. At some clothes he grinned at and he wondered how he ever wanted to wear it. Motifs of various animals in bright colours. Maybe he just wore them to see Diablos' right eyebrow twitch when he was forced to look at them. Diablos barely tolerated them.

The teen remembered the man's face whenever they went to buy clothes. Cissi and Salerna always had to come along because at some point, when Harry had showed Diablos one too many bright T-shirts, the man would just give it all up in frustration. All of his robes went in black, dark green, dark blue and purple. It was just when Harry had started school that he saw the man in more colourful ones, the one Harry liked the most was a red one that Mary once had bought the man. Or the robes Odium and Arsenic had bought, with lots of silver and chains, complex and even named battle-robes.

He turned back to the bed now, and saw Diablos had curled up under the sheets, his hair spilled over the pillow and half of his face. The teen made sure to leave as quietly as possible.

-o-

_He heard them walk down the stairs. Soon someone would come banging on the door. His heart was beating so fast he was scared it would explode.__ He shouldn't be this scared, right? They just banged and said what they wanted. Mostly. He was scared it would be one of those other times, when it would turn ugly. He rubbed his arms._

"_What are you doing in there? Hurry up and make breakfast!"_

_The shrill voice was almost a relief. She shouted, never touched. He opened the door, slunk out and past her into the kitchen, like a shadow. He heard her disgusted snort but didn't care. As long as no one touched him it was fine._

_He knew what the date was. It was Christmas times. Everyone should be happy. Everyone should have joy in their hearts. Not him. Never him. He didn't know how others celebrated Christmas. Usually they didn't want him in the same room but was more generous than usual when it was the holidays._

_Diablos was still nervous though. He was getting scared of something else too. His fear was slowly vanishing, but replacing it was something strange, something that made him want to rip something apart. He had searched for it, trying to put a name on that feeling, and thought he had finally found it._

_Rage._

_He didn't like the sound of it, nor the meaning. He was not violent. They were. He did not want to hurt anyone. They did. They were in this rage, not him. It seemed the rage came when he was close by, as if his mere presence triggered them to snap and become crazy._

_But he wouldn't. He wouldn't turn crazy. There was no way he would._

Diablos sat up with a gasp and felt soft sheets under his hands, sheets Dora had picked out so they wouldn't irritate his skin, comfortably worn with regular washes, then the darkness of the room and for a moment his breath hitched, then it calmed as he felt along the bed. He was not in a cupboard.

And…

He was back to his normal size.

He didn't put any light on; instead he sat there feeling his hands. He pressed them to his chest and tried to calm his racing heart. He was back to normal and the old memories could stop coming.

They didn't. However, they were not suffocating like usual but hovered just within his reach. He stepped out of the bed with a purpose now, he remembered the old days when James came alone to the manor, that day, that gift… he had to find it.

Tom heard steps and got up from the chair, opening the door just in time to see Diablos vanish down the corridor, dressed in night-clothes and at his usual height and age. The former Dark Lord decided not to follow, and gently closed the door again.

-o-

When Harry came down for breakfast the following morning he was greeted by the sight of Dora serving tea to the now normal-looking Diablos. The man looked up from his book and greeted Harry with a small smile. The teen walked over and hugged him tightly.

"Harry? Is something wrong?"

"No matter how much I thought you were adorable as a kid, I missed this."

"Missed hugging me? Didn't you do that enough this last week?"

"I didn't dare hug too hard. You were so small I was scared you were going to break."

Diablos chuckled at that and Harry seated himself. The teen saw something glimmer and leaned closer.

"Shit, where did you get that necklace from?"

"Watch your language!"

"Dia, no distractions. Necklace, where, now."

Diablos sighed and fingered on the silver plate. "James gave it to me once," he replied.

"Dad did?"

"Yes, he did."

Harry touched it and held it up. It was a strange symbol on it. "What does the symbol mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything," Diablos said. "It was something he saw."

"Really? Where?"

Diablos took Harry's hand and made the teen look at him.

"When he was twelve we were on a holiday together. The hotel we lived in was set on fire. Magical fire. It was a magical hotel but there was someone who wanted it gone. The wizards and witches tried to stop the fire but nothing helped."

Harry hung into every word he said.

"Mary and John weren't inside when it started. James and I were. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to escape. The fire was too hot and spreading too quickly. We also lived on the eight floor, I wasn't sure we were going to survive if we jumped from the window. That's when the first sign showed up."

"First sign?"

"The power of my blood," Diablos said. "The Ancient Wizard blood. I was more focused than ever, mostly because James was getting weaker. He was breathing in smoke and it was quickly making it hard for him to stay awake. I didn't think. I just wanted out. Out through the window and land safely."

"What happened?"

_James coughed and realized it was fresh air. He breathed it in greedily, then noticed something was not right. The wind was too __strong; it hadn't been that strong earlier that evening. And he felt no ground underneath him, in fact he felt weightless-_

_The beat of wings made his eyes widen. Like two enormous shadows they had sprung out from his brother's back, and Diablos was making his way down._

_The landing was hard, they tumbled around and James heard Mary scream their names. One wing stuck up awkwardly before disappearing from sight, turning to fine dust that coated his clothes. He looked at Diablos and the symbol burned into his mind forever before it too faded from sight. _

"_What was that?" James asked breathlessly._

"_Flying?" Diablos asked, breathing hard._

"_No, that… that mark. That mark on your neck, I saw it, what was it?"_

"_That…" The man coughed and heard Mary and John approach. "Let's just say, it's my symbol."_

"Your symbol?"

"Each Ancient Wizard has a mark," Diablos said. "It varies from person to person. That was my mark. He remembered it perfectly too."

Diablos was proud of it, Harry could see that so he smiled and let the man look at the necklace in peace.

Tbc…

* * *

It really got longer than I expected!

Chapter eight: The rest of the holiday. Then it's time for another battle against Dumbledore, to once more weaken his forces. Harry later struggles with studies while worrying about those he cares for. A raid goes wrong, the Ministry manages to interfere and Lucius gets injured. Did he manage to escape before someone from the Light discovered him?

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter of a Lost Future **

**Summary**: Sequel to A Second Chance. Diablos and the gang are back, this time for a last painful fight against a Dumbledore from a time when war the least of people's problems.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Evil!Dumbledore, Gryffindor-bashing, siding with Voldemort-fic, time-travelling mentioned, violence and so on.

Plus you probably need to read A Second Chance to understand what's the hell's going on.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Harry Potter, but Diablos is kinda my own character. I morphed him into my own character. Plus I do own Salerna, his adoring wife Cissi, Orator and a few others.

-o-

Thanks for all the reviews!

Enjoy this chapter.

-o-

**Chapter**** Eight**

Tom walked into the dining hall on Christmas morning to see Diablos watch a… a chocolate cake. With frosting. And topping. And sprinkled with something that probably was as sweet as everything else.

"Diablos?" he asked carefully.

"Yes?"

"You don't like sweets. Nor cakes."

"I can enjoy them."

"Not that much."

"I know that."

"Then why is it here?" Tom asked.

"Whenever James was here," Diablos said, "I told Dora to make one. And when it was gone, and James was still here, she'd make another one."

The former Dark Lord was quiet. Diablos reached out and spun on the plate.

"He loved it," the man continued. "You know, it was so disgustingly sweet he couldn't help but eat it all up. Laughed at my face. I must have looked to be in shock the first time Dora made the cake for him."

"You ordered her to do it?"

"It was after he gave me something," Diablos said. "He wanted something sweet, and I told Dora to make a cake. She made this. Before I had time to tell her she overdid it he was already eating it. Grinning like a lunatic."

"Okay. Why is it here now?"

"I just… wanted to look… I don't know why I told her to do it; I'm being stupidly sentimental ever since I got turned into a kid."

"Well, maybe that is a good thing," Tom said.

"How the hell is it a good thing that I look back instead of forward?"

"Because obviously you're looking back at the good things, and not the bad like you usually do," Tom replied.

"If you look at it that way," the man agreed. "Who's going to eat this though?" He spun the plate once more.

Tom groaned at the mere thought of letting that thing touch his lips. He would die of a sugar overdose just looking at it too much.

"Dia?"

They turned their heads. Harry looked at the cake.

"Can I taste it?" the teen asked and grinned at Diablos.

"Well, it seems in some ways he really is his father's son," Tom said.

It was Diablos' turn to groan now.

-o-

In the end Harry wasn't allowed to eat the cake until after breakfast and by the time they were finished the manor was filled with people. The living room was practically overflowing with gifts, enough to make Diablos want to cry over the loss of his privacy. He didn't though; that would have freaked everyone out and Odium and Arsenic would have become more paranoid than usual.

So he sat still, one leg over the other, arms crossed and watched as the present wrapping began to cover the floor. Salerna sipped his wind and slipped an arm around the man's shoulders.

"You're not thinking about escaping are you?" the white-haired man asked.

"Now why would I do that?"

"Your shoulders are tense, your jaw set, the noises are louder than usual; you're nervous and skittish."

"I still don't like crowds," Diablos mumbled.

"You do know three can be counted as a crowd?"

"I meant the noise-level."

"You're still so sensitive," Salerna said with a grin. "You still shrink away."

Diablos glared at him, then looked away. He had his own pile of gifts by his feet but did not touch them, not yet. It would take the others a long time before all the gifts were unwrapped; he could afford waiting a few more minutes.

Cissi and Narcissa were chatting over a dress Narcissa had just unwrapped, a gift from Lucius while all the ones under the age of twenty were closest to the tree, on the floor and surrounded by wrapping and the gifts. Lucius, Severus, the two Bills, Sirius, Remus, Odium, Arsenic and Tom sat a bit away, opening their gifts with a little more dignity.

Salerna tugged him closer and Diablos let him. The raven-haired man's head landed on his shoulder and Diablos closed his eyes. It had gone long enough for the people in the room to not react at it. Diablos knew it could be seen the wrong way, but only in the company of those who didn't see their friendship. Salerna had a wife who he loved very much. Diablos was his best friend (who Salerna just loved to embarrass by hugging him), and the white-haired man had _always_ been touchy-feeling.

_Diablos did not like this. Introduction party. He was barely able to stay in his corner. Eyes searched for easy exits. He drew back when someone walked past, hoping the dark would shield him. The wall was comforting against his back._

_What had he gotten himself in on, becoming an instructor at the Auror School in Italy? He didn't like crowds. Now he would be constantly surrounded by them. His poor nerves…_

"_Are you the new teacher in Dark Arts?"_

_He turned, shoulders tensed and saw a man with blinding white hair and violet eyes. Salerna Maga, endurance. He hadn't expected the man to come and greet him first of all._

"_Yes," he replied._

"_Why are you standing in the corner?"_

"_I do not enjoy parties."_

"_Well, that's unusual. I thought youngsters loved parties," Salerna said and leaned against the wall next to him._

"_I'm not like all others." But right now he wanted to be just a little like all others; he wanted to get drunk too because right now he was feeling lonely and he hated feeling that way._

_He was startled when a hand found his and Salerna was then dragging him through the sea of people. The white-haired man grinned and said:_

"_Well, I'm not going to let you stay in a corner and rot away! This way we go!"_

_He kept a hold on Diablos at all time that night, even when Diablos managed to get piss drunk and vomit in the early morning due to not having eaten before starting to drink._

Diablos remembered that with painful clarity. He felt like shit, his throat was killing him, his head was pounding and there had been a strong arm around his waist, another holding his hair back and a hard chest pressed to his side. Salerna had stayed with him even as he puked his guts out.

"You're thinking about something," Salerna said.

"My first drunken night and my shining knight in armour."

Salerna snorted. "Could've made used of an armour, if only to keep your vomit off me."

"I did not puke on you," Diablos protested.

"Ah, to think that was the first time you acted human in front of me. No wonder you remained a stone-face for a couple years after that."

"I was like that in the past, alright," Diablos hissed and raised his head. Salerna grinned knowingly and pushed the head back. The red-eyed 'devil' relaxed.

The gifts could wait all day for all he cared.

-o-

In the end he had opened them before everyone had finished. After that the day just became a blur of discussions, food, mingles, drinking and the teens running around acting like children. For dinner Voldemort had joined them but left shortly afterwards, having already promised to spend some time at the Lestranges too.

Salerna found Diablos on his bathroom, the man leaning back against the bathtub. He looked over when he saw the white-haired man.

"You're feeling ill?"

"It's just a headache," Diablos said. "Too much noise."

"Well, sitting on the bathroom floor isn't going to help. Up we go, to bed."

Diablos dropped onto the bed and heard running feet on the first floor. "I take it they are still running around?" he asked tiredly as he kicked off his shoes.

"Of course they are; they will run until all the sugar is out of their system and then they'll collapse right on spot," Salerna huffed. "Just like always."

"You take care of it. I'm going to sleep." With that Diablos turned his head away and not even a minute later he was out.

"That was fast," the man muttered and then left.

-o-

During one of the last days of the Christmas break Harry wandered into the dining hall to see the table half-covered in papers and maps. He blinked blearily and looked around.

Diablos sat in one chair with Odium leaning behind him, both looking at a map.

"It's too early for any evil plans to be made," Harry whined as he walked up to his uncle, sat down in the chair next to him and nuzzled his face against Diablos' shoulder.

"Evil plans are made every second of an awake and asleep moment," Diablos replied. "Here, let me clear some up. Dora! Some breakfast if you would be so kind!"

The elf showed up not a minute later with a tray of steaming breakfast. Harry's mouth watered at the sight. Odium gathered some maps and sat down.

"I think it's a good place," he told Diablos.

"Well, have a look at it then. I'm sure it's good."

"I'll take Bill with me."

"You have to wait until he gets up then. Lazy man."

"Not everyone is like you and get up five in the morning." Odium poked the raven-haired man on the arm.

"I did not get up at five this morning," Diablos hissed.

"Tom told me a different story."

"Tom goes _to_ bed five in the morning."

"No, today he went to bed…" Odium glanced at a watch. "About thirty minutes ago."

"Night owl," Diablos muttered and clapped his hands, bringing the papers together. "Arsenic?"

"She should arrive later today."

Harry placed a cup of tea in front of Diablos who took it without questioning. He knew the teen had long since learned the man's favourite one, often unsweetened with just the tiniest bit of milk.

The teen dug into the breakfast while Odium walked out of the room. The two Potters were alone in the dining hall now.

"Are you planning for something special?" the teen asked.

"Yes," the man replied. "Dumbledore's gathering more forces. We're going to strike."

Harry swallowed some toast and looked over at him. "You'll be careful, yeah?"

"Of course."

"When is it happening?"

"I don't know yet," the man said. "Hopefully not too soon, and yet not too late."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't want it to happen tomorrow and I don't want it to happen in two months."

"Oh… so Odium is going to check the place? Did you always do that?"

"When we had time and opportunity," Diablos said. "We trick the enemy into believing they chose the place when in fact we did. We started it before we went time-travelling."

"When you were a kid."

"In that time, I never was one," the man said. Harry tore the toast to pieces. "Harry, don't get upset for me. It's not your fault my childhood was fucked up."

"I know but-"

"No buts. You hear me? I don't want to hear a 'but' or an 'if'. Sometimes things just turn out the way they do."

Harry knew Diablos was right.

Didn't make him feel his uncle deserved it though.

-o-

This time they would do better. Dumbledore knew that. This time he picked the spot out. It was perfect. It would serve their purpose well. He would kill them all.

There was no sign of any army as the man arrived with his. He smiled in triumph. They would succeed this time! They would kill anyone who stood in their way.

Harry Potter was back at school, Ron was a good informant, and he would soon have no family. Because Dumbledore would get rid of them all. Maybe he himself should march in and tell the boy that.

"He really thinks he's the smart one," Arsenic muttered. "Oh, he's wearing such a stupid grin I want to rip off his lips…"

Diablos shushed her and turned back to the potions. She slipped small jars filled with various liquids into her dress and pouch.

They were a small group this time. The time-travellers, Sirius, Remus, Voldemort and a few selected Death Eaters. Their goal was to yet again reduce the old man's army. The less they were in the final fight, the more the time-travellers could focus on Dumbledore.

"Fred, George, you know what to do," Diablos said.

The twins took the belts of potions Diablos had prepared for them and strapped them on.

"Come from the sides," the man said, "he's watching upwards this time too."

"Okay," Fred said. They got their brooms and vanished.

"What about us?" Voldemort asked.

"If you don't mind I'd like you to do a front attack," the raven-haired man said and looked over at the Dark Lord. "I need him busy on you. Arsenic and Odium will go with you too."

"What about you and Bill?" Sirius asked.

"We have a plan," he replied and looked over at Bill who grinned. The younger Bill and the younger twins were not in this fight this time. "We'll finish it up, you'll get a signal."

"What kind of signal?" Voldemort wondered.

"A lightning," Bill said. "Coming from the ground. When you see that, Apparate away. We don't care where, just away. Arsenic and Odium are keeping Dumbledore busy along with Sirius and Remus. You just focus taking those brainless idiots out."

Voldemort nodded, and checked. The army was close enough. He looked back at his Death Eaters and nodded. Lucius and Severus' faces were seen before they took their masks on. Beyond them were the Lestranges and a few others who had kept their masks on at all time.

Arsenic and Odium prepared to along with Sirius and Remus. They would get to Dumbledore first, Remus with Arsenic and Sirius with Odium. Neither of the time-travellers wanted the two Marauders face Dumbledore alone at any time. Sirius knew what the man would do if faced with the opportunity.

Voldemort ran first. The Death Eaters followed along with Arsenic, Odium, Remus and Sirius. Bill and Diablos stayed hidden.

"They don't know you're going to trick him here, do they?" Bill asked.

"Not really," Diablos said. "You just stay ready to fire the spell."

He watched as the fight began, the Light being surprised at the Dark's sudden entrance that they were overpowered for a moment. But this time the fighters for the Light were stronger, and the red-eyed man winced as he saw one of the Death Eaters get hit. The body was flung to the side but another Death Eater caught his comrade and Apparated away. They were not willing to risk anyone's life, and Diablos held up a hand. Bill knew that signal; when the man's fingers had counted down to one and then closed to a fist, Bill was to activate the spell.

"Be sure to send that lightning," Bill warned.

"I'll do it away from you."

"So Dumbledore won't discover me?"

"That's the plan."

Bill growled at Diablos who only moved a bit away, enough so Bill would stay hidden. One finger down, four to go. He felt Bill's magic work itself up. The spell took a lot of magic, almost all of Bill's and a good portion of Diablos' normal magic, but it had a splendid result. Major casualties if done correctly. And Diablos would have nothing but correctly this evening.

Three fingers, and Bill placed his hands on the seal. It began to glow and Diablos felt his magic leave to feed the spell. He held out his wand, ready in an attack position. Dumbledore would spot him soon. The old man was driven around hard by the four, and the twins had already made two attacks from the sides. A third time was too dangerous so he saw them press the brooms to hide in the clouds. It was a high altitude to aim for but nothing new for the time-travelling Weasley twins. They had had worse. Much, much worse.

Two fingers, their magic began to hum and Dumbledore picked up a prickling sensation. He couldn't figure out yet what it was but tried to widen his field of vision beyond his four attackers.

One, and Diablos prepared the signal even as the former headmaster caught sight of him. With a vicious slash of his wand he threw Sirius and Odium aside, a break from Sirius signalling at least one bone broke and Odium caught him around the waist to prevent further damage, and then Dumbledore was moving towards him with an enraged scream.

Too late. Diablos' hand closed into a fist, he sent up the lightning and suddenly all Dark people were gone. Bill sent the magic into the seal, activated the spell and Dumbledore whipped around.

The ground below his army had opened, roots from trees shooting up and grabbing ankles, legs, waists, arms, anything they could and dragged the bodies down into the underground. The spell had been used by witches and wizards in Scandinavia during the time of the Vikings, and the Goblins had preserved it. An ancient trap, one that could kill enemy as well as ally.

It wasn't over yet. Dumbledore charged to Diablos who had already whipped out three spells. Dumbledore blocked them all, more used to the man's controlled fighting and sent out three of his own, one being Crucio.

The first two missed but the third hit, and Diablos felt the air press out of his lungs as something _locked_, and then Dumbledore was coming with a blade in his left hand so without thinking Diablos threw his arm up to shield against it, preparing a spell with the other.

It was only when the blade dug into his flesh he knew what had locked, and he jumped away, feeling the searing pain.

He couldn't heal.

The raven-haired man was vaguely aware the arm was barely hanging onto the rest of his body and Dumbledore grinned.

"How do you like that?" he shouted.

"Doesn't matter," Diablos said. "Our objective has been reached."

Grabbing a hold of his almost lost arm, Diablos closed his eyes and vanished.

-o-

The others were at the manor when he arrived through the door. The pain was getting to him, and the arm was a mess. The nerves were still connected to it, so it was bizarre he could almost make his fingers twitch even though the arm was slowly turning into a piece of meat attached to him. As he didn't really want to fully cut it off, he had to get some serious help. He did not have time to unseal his healing abilities; the arm would be lost by then.

Arsenic shrieked as she saw the state of his arm.

"Call Orator," he panted and realized he was shaking. He was going into shock. "Hurry, Arsenic, tell him… I need healing." Orator was a great healer, and the only setback for the vampire was that he could not heal himself like Diablos usually could.

She rushed off to contact the vampire and he began to feel an odd throbbing, and before he knew it he had crashed into the wall. His vision swam and he wondered dazedly just how much blood he had lost, faintly feeling he was actually sliding down to the floor. Odium was kneeling by him now, holding his uninjured arm and smacking him every time his eyes stayed close for too long.

He could see others in the room but they were too blurry for him to make them out. He heard their voices too but then someone grabbed his injured arm, skin cold against his, and Orator's voice:

"Stay still."

Diablos' head rolled over so he could watch what the vampire was doing.

"You're lucky the nerves are attached," Orator continued. "It would have been more difficult to put back had they been separated."

"He blocked my healing," Diablos managed.

"This Dumbledore?"

"Yes, moments before he struck me. I didn't know… what he had locked away."

"I'll see if I can unlock it," the vampire said. "You, whitehead, hold him. This will hurt."

Diablos felt Odium's strong arms around him, one across his abdomen, the other around his shoulders. He was about to tell the vampire he had endured quite a lot of pain in his life when something seared up his arm, through his shoulder, down to his toes, into his heart and lungs, infesting his brain and his back arched even as he screamed.

-o-

Harry had been told of the events by Severus who had left out the more gruesome detail of Diablos' injury, just saying Orator healed him and the man was resting.

The teen knew there was something more to it considering Severus' slightly sick face, but hadn't pressed the issue. He wasn't sure he really wanted to know it all. As long as Diablos was alive and well, with no permanent damage, Harry would remain happy.

If they managed to kill Dumbledore anytime soon, he would turn even happier.

As it was, he just had to continue with his studies.

Judging by the sour and evil look on Ron Weasley's face, Harry made a note to not meet the redhead alone for the next few days. He had already tried to foolishly attack once when Harry was alone; the raven-haired teen was not about to give him any new ideas.

"I wish it would stop soon," Hermione said as they walked towards the Great Hall for lunch. "For all our sakes."

"Yeah," Harry said. "I know I need it, and I'm not even involved in the war!"

"You are," the girl said. "You're so worried about your uncle it affects you too."

"Well, don't let him know that. He'll kill himself for that alone," Harry muttered and she giggled.

Draco caught up with them.

"Hey, I heard from my father about your uncle."

"I haven't talked to him yet, he's still asleep apparently," Harry said. "But everyone says he's fine, so I trust them on that."

"Yeah, I guess."

"What about your dad? Was he okay?"

"He got thrown around a little bit, no big deal."

"Sirius broke one of his legs again," Harry said with a wince. "Remus is fussing over him and Diablos right now I can imagine."

"Remus really turns into a mother-hen at times," Hermione said.

"As if you have the right to say that," the blonde added.

Hermione stopped. Harry and Draco stopped too. The girl handed over her bag to Harry and said:

"Can you carry that to the Great Hall for me, Harry?"

"Yeah, sure, but why?"

"Because I'm going to chase Draco's sorry ass and turn his hair pink."

Draco let out an undignified shriek at the very idea and dashed down the hell, Hermione after him with her wand waving around dangerously in the air.

"I see they are as energetic as usual."

The dreamy voice had him turn his head and Luna smiled dazedly to him.

"Hi, Luna," he said. "On your way to lunch?"

"Yes, I was. Your uncle looks really sweet when he's asleep."

She walked pass him, as if on air with her arms slightly out from her sides, and continued down the hall with the teen staring after her. He shook his head violently and started to walk, muttering:

"Do I even want to know how she knows that?"

In the end, probably not. She'd just reply a giant spider or something like that told her.

-o-

When Diablos finally came to, he knew by the ache in his limbs he had been asleep for days. He moved his neck gently, groaning. His throat was dry but before he had time to ask for a glass of water, a glass was pressed to his lips even as someone helped him sitting up. He drank greedily before even attempting to pry his eyes open.

The lights were dimmed even though he saw through the curtains over the windows it was broad daylight outside, and he appreciated that.

Remus put down the glass and Diablos knew it was Salerna's chest he was resting against.

"How long?" he mumbled.

"Almost three days," Salerna murmured. "I called you in sick."

"Thank you."

"How are you feeling?"

"Good," he murmured with a drowsy smile.

"I think some of Orator's medicine is still running high in his system," Salerna said to the werewolf who rolled his eyes but nodded. Diablos looked drugged.

"At least his arm's back where it's supposed to be."

Ah, his arm. Diablos lifted it and flexed the fingers. Felt fine. To think he had regarded it as a piece of meat just days earlier. His head lolled forward and Salerna helped him lean back against him. His head rolled on the white-haired man's shoulder and he turned to his side, curling closer.

"You do realize I'm going to have excellent blackmail material later?" Salerna asked.

Diablos only grunted.

"I'll go check on Sirius," Remus said but Salerna knew it was just an excuse to leave the two friends alone. He nodded anyway and watched the werewolf leave.

He moved Diablos to a lying position again and the man rolled to his side, breaths deepening. He was falling asleep again.

Diablos felt Salerna settle down behind him and managed to make his mouth move:

"Aren't you… supposed to… be with Cissi… and Ginny?" His tongue felt weird.

"They can handle themselves a little longer," Salerna whispered and stroke his friend's hair. "Go back to sleep. You are cute when you're groggy but I rather have you lucid if you don't mind."

Diablos buried his face into the pillow and relaxed even as he felt his friend's hand run through his hair.

-o-

"You should have seen it!"

Harry grinned at Salerna who just had told him how Diablos had acted hours before.

"He was so warm and cuddly, just like a puppy!"

"… How old are you, Salerna?"

"Don't be like that, you would've agreed with me had you been there in the room with me!"

Harry knew the man was right so he didn't say anything.

"But he's asleep again?"

"Yes, it's better he sleep off the medicine," Salerna said. He had left the room to give Harry an update.

"Is Remus hovering?"

"Not as much as we feared; I think he's focusing on Sirius more even though your godfather seems fine."

"Remus is just worried, especially when it comes to Sirius."

"Well, I should go back to my house," the man said. "Diablos won't be alone."

"Good."

-o-

The second time Diablos woke up his head felt clear and Tom was reading a book at his side. The man glanced over as Diablos sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"It's ten in the evening," Tom supplied as the man looked around. "And you should get a bath."

"I stink that much?"

"No, you just looked uncomfortable."

It was true, he was feeling a bit more than yucky and slid off the bed.

"Harry is probably still awake," the former Dark Lord said. "Want to talk to him first?"

"Shower first," Diablos said. "Then I'll talk to him."

The shower only took ten minutes, and an additional two to dry himself and dress but by the time he came back the sheets had been changed, a tray with steaming food was on the nightstand and beside was his two-way mirror. Tom had opened all the windows to freshen the air and sat in the chair again.

"You work fast," Diablos pointed out.

"It's Dora who should get the credit for managing to make a mouth-watering meal within ten minutes."

"You didn't know she could?"

"No, best time I clocked her on was twelve minutes and thirty-seven seconds, and even then she made it all from scratch. She likes you more."

Diablos shook his head and pulled the tray onto the bed as he sat down Indian-style and began to eat. He was starving and like with all food made by Dora, it tasted delicious. He ate about half of it within five minutes before a glance too many from Tom made him slow down.

"I understand you haven't eaten in some days but please refrain yourself from choking on it."

"Shut up. You just want some of it, I know it."

"Since when have you been this childish?" Tom asked.

"I call it temporary insanity, it'll pass in a while," Diablos replied with a wave of his hand. "I'm going to talk to Harry now."

"Please don't eat while you do that."

"I _won't_, mother."

Harry was happy to hear from him, and enjoyed a good thirty minutes conversation with a cheerful Diablos, Tom rolling his eyes before returning to his book.

-o-

The fight was harder than they thought. The Ministry had been weak after the first Dumbledore's death but somehow they managed to put up with a fight this time.

Lucius growled as spells went left and right around him, twisting and rolling away, just inches away from immense pain or worse, death. Half of his mask was broken, and he was getting nervous someone would spot his face. He could probably talk it away but it would affect his reputation at the Ministry and that in turn would affect Voldemort's influence. He would not have that.

A spell caught his arm and it exploded in pain. Lucius bit down on his own lip and with another hit the mask blew off completely. He threw his injured arm over his face and ripped his robes up to hide his hair.

"Go back to your manor!" Voldemort commanded as he brushed past the blonde. "Get that arm treated."

"Yes, my lord."

Lucius Apparated but as he entered the hall he heard something he did not want to hear; Aurors.

"If your husband isn't here, Mrs Malfoy, where else would he be?" one asked.

"As I told you before, he is in Italy visiting a friend," came Narcissa's voice from the living room.

Lucius backed out, closing the door soundlessly and grips his arm. It was getting really painful. He had to escape. Narcissa had said he was in Italy. So he might as well go there for real.

-o-

Diablos heard the knock on the front door and looked up from the grading paper he was holding, only to hear Dora opening. A moment of hushed voices, then hurried footsteps and Lucius came in, face paler than usual and a hand clutching his wand arm. Blood seeped out from between.

"Ministry people at the house, I couldn't go there," the blonde said as Diablos directed him to a chair. "Cissy told them all I was in Italy so I thought I could come here."

"Of course. Let me see the wound."

It was deep, exposing the bone but the raven-haired man worked swiftly while Lucius wondered where everyone else was. The manor was nowadays rarely empty of people.

"They are all off doing their own thing if you're wondering where they are," Diablos said, looking up at him.

"Oh, alright."

"Take this." It was a pain-relief. "It won't make you groggy, just take the edge off when I heal it."

Lucius downed it and Diablos let it set before he worked to close the wound.

"Bad raid?" he asked.

"I was clumsy. But aye, the Aurors were worse than usual. They actually fought back this time."

"The horror," Diablos muttered.

When the fire-call from Narcissa came, asking for Lucius, the two were engaged in an enraging battle of chess.

Tbc…

* * *

Here it is! Hope you enjoyed.

Chapter nine: Rodolphus Lestrange is snatched during one of the raids, and Diablos knows what Dumbledore plans. He will not let it happen again.  
The Weasley joke-shop gets attacked, and future Bill has something to retrieve at Gringotts.

Look forward to it!

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter of a Lost Future **

**Summary**: Sequel to A Second Chance. Diablos and the gang are back, this time for a last painful fight against a Dumbledore from a time when war the least of people's problems.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Evil!Dumbledore, Gryffindor-bashing, siding with Voldemort-fic, time-travelling mentioned, violence and so on.

Plus you probably need to read A Second Chance to understand what's the hell's going on.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Harry Potter, but Diablos is kinda my own character. I morphed him into my own character. Plus I do own Salerna, his adoring wife Cissi, Orator and a few others.

-o-

Sorry for the lateness!

Enjoy this new chapter!

-o-

**Chapter**** Nine**

Voldemort did very few raids even before the first Dumbledore had died. He kept them sparse but when they did happen, it was with an impact.

So for him to do two within a month was fairly unusual but he wanted to throw the Ministry out of rhythm. He already knew he would never fully try take over the Ministry, not at least officially. The raids were there to make people focus on that, and not on the fact that more and more of his people entered the Ministry's walls. Lucius was one of the most influent ones, and Voldemort treasured the man deeply, both as his subordinate and as his friend. But he could not rely on the man alone, and not on the few others as well so he made a point to steadily move more of his people in there.

So the raids were just a decoy. But he hadn't expected on the second Dumbledore to show up. The Dark Lord wasn't prepared but did his best to keep the man away from the Death Eaters so they could get away before he himself got away.

But in one careless moment he had let his guard down.

In the next moment Dumbledore was gone, taking Rodolphus Lestrange with him.

And that was the reason he found himself sitting in Diablos' living room, hands wrapped around a cup of tea and staring down into it while he heard Bellatrix scream in the hallway, followed shortly by Sirius' and Rabastan's voices as they tried to calm her down. By the sounds of it, they weren't having much luck in that.

Diablos had already contacted Odium and Arsenic, and they were going to get him.

"I should have been more careful," the Dark Lord said.

"You didn't know," Diablos replied as he removed his robe; it would be in the way for a rescue, and therefore he was left in shirt and pants.

"Either way, I'm usually more paranoid than this."

"Doesn't matter now," Diablos said and took the belt with potions he was offered from Arsenic. "What did you put here?"

"Healing potions mostly, just in case," Arsenic said.

"You know what he's going to do?" Voldemort asked and looked up at the three.

"He did kidnap Rodolphus in our time too," Diablos said. "And others. He… well, what he did to them I rather not having to happen again. There are more pleasant deaths than theirs."

Voldemort stared. "I didn't realize he was that far gone."

"Believe me, he is," the raven-haired replied. Bellatrix continued to shout. "We should go now. Will you lead the way to his manor, Odium?"

"Sure," the Undead answered and shed his robe too. "Might be tricky getting in."

"We'll take it as it comes, I don't care if he notices us right away," Diablos said. The man probably would anyway so it didn't matter if they were careful or not getting there. "All we're there for is getting Rodolphus back."

"So, are we ready for some manslaughter?" Arsenic said and looked at her two friends. Both stared at her. "What? No attack is complete without a little manslaughter!"

"And to think you used to be the reasonable of us all," Odium muttered.

"I heard that. I'll cut your tongue out later."

"Do it with gloves on. Might just rot otherwise in your hands."

"Gross," she replied.

"We're going now," Diablos said, ending their argument. "You can talk about rotten tongues later."

-o-

The alarms bellowed in their ears, but Dumbledore was up before the first signal had even ended. Someone had broken into the manor! He had to get to the dungeons, quickly!

He had been a fool to think they didn't know where he lived. He had anticipated that they would try find Rodolphus Lestrange but hadn't expected them to show up so soon! Dumbledore had hoped by the time they found the manor it would already had been too late, but now it was too early! Someone must have spied and found the hideout.

Meanwhile Diablos crept along the dungeon corridor. There were cells but all of them were empty so far. Arsenic was out making chaos on the grounds while Odium had gotten in through the front door, keeping them busy. That left Diablos to find Rodolphus. It wasn't as easy as he had wished but he had to take it as it came.

Like the corridor splitting into three. He kneeled down and brought out his wand.

"Point me Rodolphus Lestrange," he whispered.

The wand remained motionless. The man wasn't that surprised; it was only natural Dumbledore had prevented that but it was annoying nonetheless.

So away with the caution, and do it with speed instead.

"Rodolphus!"

A brief silence, Diablos wondered if the man was unconscious, then:

"Who is it?"

Diablos was rushing down the third corridor already and soon came to a stop in front of a cell. Rodolphus visibly relaxed seeing him, then steeled himself and said:

"How do I know you're for real?"

"Your wife was at my house and swore she would castrate the whole bunch of us, including you, unless you were rescued from 'that bloody old fart' within three hours."

"… I believe you."

"How good, otherwise I would've gone into details."

"Be careful with the door," Rodolphus said. "I don't know what kind of spell they put on it, but something was it."

"Easy fixed; we won't use the door."

He rummaged through the potions and fished up the one he had taken with him. He uncorked it and said:

"Good thing I took this with me."

"What's that?" Rodolphus asked.

"A nasty, poisonous potion. Don't breathe in the fumes."

"What does it-?"

Diablos threw it on the bars. Rodolphus shut up and held his breath as the iron began to melt and red smoke welled from it. It hissed and spitted, and Diablos withdrew for a few moments. The smoke began to clear and he stepped right through.

The chains were a bit harder, and in the end he moved magic to his hand to manually bend the metal out of shape so the Lestrange could free himself. Diablos could hear steps.

"I think we are in a bit of a jam soon," he said. "Can you get yourself out and back to my manor?"

"Yes, I think so but what about you?"

"I'm just going to be an annoying bastard." With that, he ran out of the cell, to where the three corridors became one and saw Dumbledore come running. "Oh, hi there Albus!"

"Diablos!"

"I wonder what happens if I make a hole in the roof?" he muttered as he got his wand out, sweeping it in a circle above his head and dove to the side as the roof came falling down. Dumbledore screamed in rage and Diablos grinned before, with some magical help, climbing up to the first floor. In his anger, Dumbledore didn't think of checking whether Rodolphus was still there or not. He just followed Diablos which the raven-haired man had hoped he would do.

Now it was just the question of getting out. He heard Dumbledore behind him and had to admit the man was still a good runner despite his age.

"Diablos!"

He might change the volume of his voice though; in the end it was rather high-pitched. Diablos rounded a corner and wondered where exactly he was. This place consisted of corridors, corridors and just for fun, more corridors! Soon he was going to run through the walls. And he would not pay any repair bills.

A spell flew past him. Time to change tactics.

Dumbledore had no time to react as the man turned around and with him, a wide bow of magic coming from his wand. The force lifted the former headmaster off his feet and into a wall. He got up soon enough but Diablos was already over him, a knife flashing in his hand.

"It might come a bit late," Diablos said with a grin, "but here's for what you did to Fred!"

_Diablos heard Fred's scream before he spotted the older teen. George had already caught him and thrown Dumbledore off balance and was on his way to Diablos. Fred held a hand over one of his eyes. Blood was running through his fingers and down his cheek, and Diablos' blood ran cold._

_It was only when they were back in safety that Fred removed the hand. Blood was still running thickly, and he was getting pale. Severus rushed forward and tilted Fred's head back. George was held back by Bill._

"_What's wrong?" George screamed. "Is there something wrong with him? Fred!"_

_Severus was already turning to the others and said:_

"_I have to remove the eye. It's too damaged to be saved."_

_Fred couldn't fight for weeks. It was a constant adjustment from having two eyes to just having one. And Diablos vowed that one day, he would do the same to the man who took Fred's eye away._

Dumbledore remembered that. He began to scream but it was already too late. The knife came flashing down, and pain entered his eye socket and down his cheek. With the other eye he saw Diablos raise the knife a second time, a crazy glint in the man's eyes and the former headmaster kicked him off before Diablos could slice his throat. Others were approaching, and Diablos got up on his feet and vanished down the hall. Didn't matter. Dumbledore would get him in the end.

He would kill them all.

-o-

"What did you do?"

Arsenic sounded serious, maybe a little scared. Rodolphus looked up from his lap to see Diablos having entered the living room.

The three had been worried when they had to leave without him, Odium and Arsenic more or less not wanting to but they had agreed the moment they saw Rodolphus on the move they would Apparate away. Diablos hadn't Apparated with them.

He looked down at his hand. The knife was bloody, so was his hand.

"I didn't manage to kill him," he said and raised the knife. "He kicked me away before I could."

"Then what did you do?"

"He took Fred's eye once," Diablos said and looked at said teen. "So I took his."

"You blinded him?" Odium said.

"I should've gone for his throat first," Diablos said and shook his head. "But I just wanted him to feel some sort of pain. How childish." He dropped the knife on the floor and looked at his hand. "I'm going to take a bath."

Before someone could say anything he vanished up the stairs.

"Is he alright?" Rodolphus asked.

"Yes, he is," Arsenic replied and looked at him. "He does that sometimes."

"He's probably going to be angry tonight that he didn't take the chance," Odium said.

"Doesn't matter," the woman stated. "He would've been even more angry if he had killed the man without revenging Fred."

-o-

Diablos sank deeper into the bath and the warm water. He felt empty for some reason. He didn't like the feeling. It felt too much like his old self. The one whose mind went blank whenever he used his magic.

Blowing at a couple of bubbles Diablos sank down so only the top of his head and eyes were seen. It was warm and comfortable in the water but it was going to get cold when he got up. The basic principle of a shitty life; wherever you feel warm and safe you can't stay there forever.

That was old thoughts. Diablos got his head up, growled to himself and stood up. Wrapping a towel around himself he stepped out of the bath as the water began to drain.

He dried and dressed himself before going out into the room. As expected, Salerna sat waiting on the bed.

"It was their idea, not mine," the white-haired man defended himself.

"It's alright," Diablos replied and threw the towel into the hamper in the bathroom. "They weren't that far off anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"They're scared I'll do something, right?"

"I think so."

The raven-haired man fell back on the bed. "When I was in my original time," he began, "I felt empty. Pretty much my whole life I felt empty."

"Empty?"

"Yeah." Diablos rolled over until the whole him was on the bed. Salerna turned so he could watch his friend more comfortably. "I didn't feel much. I guess that's because no one really cared about me. And those who did, they came into my life too late and got cut out early."

"Like Sirius and Remus?"

"Yeah," the man said and closed his eyes. "I want to sleep now."

"Okay."

"Can you stay for a bit?"

"Sure," Salerna said and got up, pulling at the covers. Diablos obeyed and moved under them. The man sat down so he was leaning against the headboard, legs outstretched. "Should I talk about something?"

"Only if you feel uncomfortable with being silent."

They didn't have to say a word after that.

-o-

The Weasley twins joke shop in Diagon Alley was famous in England. Fred and George had started it after they had finished school and despite it hadn't been running for long it was going very good. Bill had supported them and helped them with the start which made him according to them an honourable guest who was given prank stuff each time he visited them. He tried to persuade them not to do it as he had no use for it, and no, no matter how much they begged he was not going to use the pranks on any Goblins. He actually rather enjoyed life, and wasn't out to endanger that.

But starting of a day was calm. The twins had time to relax, check on the shelves, organize and just laze around before any customers came.

That's why it was a shock when the front door exploded, causing splinters to shoot like projectiles into the shop. Fred knocked George over, both landing on the floor and Fred hissing over a piece of wood that had imbedded itself into his arm.

Someone stepped inside and Fred was up in an instant, wand out and eyes ablaze. He was met with a man dressed in black, he couldn't recognize who it was, the hood hid the face and he threw a bottle towards the young man. Fred's eyes widened, he had no interest in finding out what the hell was in there, and he dove back down. The moment the bottle shattered the potion exploded.

Then it was quiet. Fred could hear shouts from the outside. The man must have fled by now. He didn't really care.

"George?"

His heart almost stopped when his brother didn't answer him. He got his head up and saw George hadn't moved. And he was bleeding from the head.

"George!"

-o-

Diablos finished, the skin knitting itself back and he looked up at the younger Fred.

"He's fine, just unconscious," he said. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Bill took the splinter out, it's nothing."

"Let me see it anyway."

Fred got out his arm from the sleeve and Diablos ran his hands over the wound. "I still can't believe you refused treatment from anyone else but us," he said. "What if it had been serious?"

"I just… I just panicked," Fred said. "I didn't know who to trust there. I just knew I could trust you. You wouldn't try hurt George further. I… I don't know."

"It's quite alright, it wasn't any lasting damage," the man reassured. "Your arm's fine now."

Bill looked at both his brothers, hands so tightly clasped they were turning white and his mouth set in a straight line. He had heard the explosion, because he had happened to be at Gringotts that day and when the Goblins found out which shop they told him to go with his brothers. That was a good thing because his hands were shaking too much to be useful anyway.

Now he got up as Fred sat down on the bed where George was resting, and Diablos got up from the chair and clasped Bill's shoulder.

"I'll tell Dora to bring up some tea for you," he said.

"Thanks."

He nodded once and left the room, softly closing the door behind him. Outside the elder Weasleys waited anxiously.

"They're fine, both of them," Diablos said.

Their shoulders sagged in relief. "Did they see who it was?" Bill asked.

"No," the man said. "Bill asked around, but no one else saw his face. They just saw a man dressed in a black cloak attack the shop. I don't know if George saw anything, he hasn't woken up yet."

"What do you mean?"

"He got hit pretty hard by something," Diablos said. "There's no concussion so I'll let him wake up on his own, with a little help from Fred and Bill. Now come on, don't crowd the hallway."

They willingly followed him down and he called on Dora.

"Can you bring up some tea to the Weasleys upstairs?" he asked.

"Of course, master. Also, this was at the gate."

She handed over a letter. He thanked her and looked at the letter.

"Who would…?"

He went still. The Weasleys watched him worriedly. Diablos turned to them, held the letter with both hands and said:

"Bill, can you check if something will happen if I open it?"

"… Sure." He got his wand out and tapped the letter, uttering a spell that would reveal any secrets. Smoke trailed up and he narrowed his eyes to be able to read it faster. "Shit."

"What?"

"It's laced with Explosion potion."

"So if I open it…?"

"Bang," the oldest Weasley supplied.

"Great." Diablos took out his wand. "Back away a bit."

"What if it explodes right now?"

"I'm pretty sure it's Dumbledore who put it at my fucking gate, so when we kill him I'll just steal some money from him."

He pointed his wand at the letter and muttered:

"_Incendio_."

The letter went up in flames with a little flash at the end, signalling that was the potion. Diablos let the ashes fall down on the floor and then swept it away with a wave of his hand.

"There, done. Now I don't get to steal money from him."

"You can steal it anyway," Fred suggested.

"Hmm… true. Can I take the reason 'I stole because he's so annoying'?"

"Sure works in my world," Bill replied.

-o-

Severus sighed at the loss of his privacy, although he lost it years ago, and said:

"Are you really doing homework?"

Harry, Draco, Hermione, Padma, Neville and Luna looked at him.

"Of course," Draco said with a sniff.

"How come I don't believe you, young man?"

"You should," the blonde said seriously, nodding. "We really are doing homework."

"Then why haven't I heard you write anything down in the last twenty minutes, and the topic of your discussion is straying farther away from the subject, which originally I believe was History of Magic."

"We will get back to it," Hermione said. "Eventually."

"How about you get back to it now and then continuing with your gossip?"

"But gossip's more fun than professor Binns' assignment," Padma said.

"Now, miss Patil."

Muttering the teenagers did go back to assignment. Luna didn't have the same assignment but as she had sat and hummed to the roof from the start Severus didn't even want to start a conversation with her. Who knew what she would say? Last time it was something about toads' eyes and then he didn't listen anymore.

They were taking it rather good, the news of the attack. Of course, they had been enraged in their own way and he had had to listen to them all. Who said being a professor was easy?

He had to act like a parent half of the time.

-o-

Bill Weasley felt a bit nervous. The younger Bill Weasley that is. The older one looked very calm, despite they were just about to enter Gringotts. Both of them. At the same time. They looked alike. And the Goblins knew he had no brothers who looked _that _alike himself. Nor any cousins or whatever.

This just couldn't end well.

"You could have just told me what you wanted," younger Bill said, "and I wouldn't be this close to having a heart attack."

"They will only accept me," the other one replied. "And don't worry; Goblins aren't known to be easily shocked."

He stepped up to one of the desks briskly and the Goblin there looked up.

"Mr Weasley?" he said and then saw the other one. One eyebrow rose up.

"I'm the older one. Kind of," Bill at the desk said. "I'm a time-traveller."

"Oh, I see. And does Mr Weasley have business with Gringotts?"

"Yes, I do believe I have. I'm offering to do a warding in exchange for something."

"What kind of warding?" the Goblin asked.

"Any kind you want."

"And that thing in exchange?"

"Another time-traveller has put something in a vault. Something that belongs to me. And I want it back, considering he took it without asking me."

"Shortly said, he stole it?"

"Precisely," Bill replied.

"If you can prove it is yours, then it will be given back to you. Whose vault?"

"Alastor Moody."

"Who was the thief?"

"My time's Albus Dumbledore."

The younger Bill just stood and watched. This was bizarre, yet the ones talking handled it like it was everyday business.

"I see. How can you prove it is yours?"

"It's a box that's blood-warded, so only the owner can open it."

"Please describe the box and I shall have it collected."

Could they even do that? Just walk into someone's vault and bring something out? Maybe if someone claimed it was theirs. And if it wasn't, then they probably put it back from where they took it. What if they had to tell the owner of the vault first?

That didn't seem to be the case because as soon the older Bill finished the Goblin hopped down, said:

"Please wait here."

And then he was off.

"It was that easy?" younger Bill asked.

"Apparently. I've never done this before."

"But you assumed it would work?"

"I offered them a warding," Bill said with a shrug. "That should make them happy. Plus they don't like thieves. Not at least thieves that hides the goods in their bank."

"What is it anyway?"

"It's a box."

"What's in the box?"

"Not telling."

"Come on! You're me! You can tell me anything!"

"Not this one," the older one said. "Not until I can tell the others."

"What others?"

"What's in the box is precious to not only me," older Bill said. He looked away. "We hadn't even worn them once before that fucking Dumbledore snatched it."

"Worn them?"

The Goblin was back with a black box. Bill took it and said:

"This is the one."

"Can you please open it once so it can be confirmed you are the owner?"

Bill took out a small knife and cut open his thumb. He let one drop fall on the box, muttered something underneath his breath and the lid popped open. The Goblin nodded and Bill closed it again.

"We will have to write a note to Mr Moody and Mr Dumbledore-from-the-future that Mr Bill Weasley-from-the-future has collected the stolen item."

"Of course."

"We need a better warding on the main safe where we keep the record books of all transactions," the Goblin said, looking at Bill.

"That one. Yes, it's a rather old warding. I can do that."

"Then we shall book in an appointment for you to do so. When are you free?"

"Anytime." That was true; the older Weasleys mostly hung around the Potter Manor unless they went out scouting for something that would help them in the battle against Dumbledore.

"Then let us do it in two days at ten in the morning."

"Sounds perfect."

A minute or two later the older Bill turned to the other.

"Do you have work today?" he asked.

"No… I'm off duty…"

"What are you looking so shocked for?"

"I'm beginning to think that nothing shocks Goblins."

"Well, show up one day in a pink, frilly robe and I'm sure at least one of them will be mildly surprised."

-o-

"Alright, it feels like we're in a meeting," George said and looked around. "We aren't, are we?"

"No, we're not… sorta."

"Bill!"

Bill only smiled at his brother and had a look around too. Diablos, Arsenic, Odium, the twins and himself. Last people standing in their war. He felt watched. Everyone eyes were turned on him.

"I got something back today," he said. "Something I had promised you guys and then it got taken."

It took them a few seconds to catch up but once they did Diablos straightened up.

"You found it?"

"Yes, it was my turn to watch Dumbledore's hideout. I happened to overhear he had taken it with him, and that Alastor Moody put it in his vault at Gringotts."

"So?" the raven-haired man asked.

"So I went to ask to get it back. The Goblins didn't mind. They sent a note to them though that the stolen item had been returned."

"That will… probably piss him off," Diablos said.

"Yeah," Bill said with a grin. "I really hope so." He put the black box down on the table and opened it with the same procedure he had used at Gringotts. The lid opened and they all came closer.

"We already had the oath in our hearts but I didn't think it would hurt to have it engraved too," Bill said. "And I didn't want to make them look all the same, so… I took different stones for each of us."

Inside the box laid six rings, all in silver with six different stones on them; pure white, blood red, poison green, two crystal blue and the last one black.

"I think that's mine," Diablos said and picked up the one with the blood red stone.

Arsenic picked up the poison green, Odium the white while the twins took the blue ones. Bill picked up the black and they all took it on.

"The words are engraved on the inside of the ring, and will never fade," Bill said.

"Stay alive, hold fast, never fail," Diablos murmured.

That oath, when they were fighting against all the odds, had been their only comfort in the end.

-o-

Winter began to ease its grip and Harry was doing great on the school part. He was a worried wreck on the family part. He knew Diablos was doing just fine, but he still couldn't help but worry and twist himself into knots of question marks and so on.

Ron had been harassing him and his friends less lately which was a relief. It wasn't that he made much damage to them, it was just that he was a stress that Harry certainly didn't need right now. He had taken the habit of spending more time alone with Coran, the snake happily enjoying the scratching and grooming. With the snake, the only sounds made were Coran's contented mumbles that Harry actually enjoyed hearing.

He knew his friends weren't upset by that choice of his, as he was never gone long enough to make them worried. Everyone needed to be alone. Take his uncle for an example. Diablos sometimes needed to be alone so badly he screamed at everyone to go to hell for an hour or two. Granted, Harry had only heard it once or twice and it was in the middle of either heavy grading or exams when the man was most stressed. By now the teen had learned to recognize the signs; Diablos began to pace a repeated and selected patch in the library, often biting at his fingernails or just plain looking a bit wild with his eyes wide open and hair in a mess. That was the cue to tell everyone to get the fuck out of his way, push him into his room, bring him either tea or wine (depending on the stress level which Harry let Dora figure out) and then be quiet so he wouldn't hear them.

So far that was working well with Diablos. But Harry wasn't quite that crazy when it came to stress so he only needed ten-fifteen minutes for himself once in a while. He wondered how the rest dealt with stress. So far he knew his uncle (and to be frank, the man wasn't very good at dealing with stress) but the others had stubbornly refused to let the teen see the stress get to them. Or maybe it didn't notice on them? He had never seen Salerna stressed. Well, stressed in a sort of 'My-friend-is-hurt-holy-shit-HELP'-way but not stressed out over grading or exams or something like that. Everyone seemed so calm under pressure. However, Diablos was the same under certain pressure. Fighting was pressure yet he was cold as ice then. He endured some stress, but not all of it. Or maybe unlike others he choose not to hold it in? It was good for the man to release steam, perhaps others found other ways to relax.

"_What'cha thinkin' about?"_

Coran's question brought Harry back and he blinked.

"_Nothing much," _he replied. _"Should we get back?"_

"_Yeah, why not?"_

He had had his ten-fifteen minutes.

Time to harass some friends.

Tbc…

* * *

There. Done -smile-

Chapter ten, and LAST chapter: The third battle comes, happens after their final exams but before school ends. Harry, Hermione and Draco are actually kidnapped and brought to Dumbledore's manor. However, he made the mistake of letting Tonks watch them…  
Diablos and the rest moves in to finally take care of the man.

Look forward to it!

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	10. Chapter 10 END

**Chapter of a Lost Future **

**Summary**: Sequel to A Second Chance. Diablos and the gang are back, this time for a last painful fight against a Dumbledore from a time when war the least of people's problems.

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Evil!Dumbledore, Gryffindor-bashing, siding with Voldemort-fic, time-travelling mentioned, violence and so on.

Plus you probably need to read A Second Chance to understand what's the hell's going on.

**Disclaimers**: I don't own Harry Potter, but Diablos is kinda my own character. I morphed him into my own character. Plus I do own Salerna, his adoring wife Cissi, Orator and a few others.

-o-

The final chapter! The end of it all!

Enjoy!

_Warnings: Mentioning of a bit of gore (nothing much and not detailed) and suggestions of... what should I call it? Talking that mentions molesting someone against their will? I'll go with that one. Not much of that either, just warning you so you're aware of it._

-o-

**Chapter**** Ten**

Things were finally coming together, and soon he could make the first move. He would get rid of those annoying Death Eaters, this time's Voldemort and then finish the time-travellers off. Maybe he would kill Harry in front of Diablos, just to make him loose control.

Dumbledore grinned at the thought, then grimaced as the movement jarred his wound. That damn devil had cut so deep the eye hadn't been able to be saved. He would make the man pay for making the great Albus Dumbledore loose an eye.

Soon it was all going to be over for them.

-o-

Ron had been going around smirking at them lately. Harry was getting annoyed at that. Ron Weasley always looked so sour, how come he now looked all happy and dandy? That was just plain wrong. He was up to something. Or he knew something they didn't know.

"He's grinning again," Draco said darkly. "It's really pissing me off."

"It's pissing us all off," Hermione said with a sigh. "Ignore him."

"It's not easy to ignore him when he seems to skip class to just come and grin at me," the blonde said. "And when I ask him what the fuck his problem is, he just says I'm gonna be finished soon. I nearly whack him every time!"

"You shouldn't go around and think of hitting other people," Padma said and poked at her beef at the plate. She was reading a book that was propped up against her goblet. "You should just hex them instead."

"Yeah, I would if I could."

"You can," Harry pointed out.

"Not without getting into trouble."

"That's true," the raven-haired teen admitted. "As Hermione said, try to ignore him."

"I'm trying. He's just so good at pissing me off."

"He's good at pissing us all off," Harry said. "Just keep your guard up. He shouldn't be able to do much while in school."

But it wouldn't be Ron Weasley who did anything in the end.

-o-

Something was stirring. Diablos nearly rolled his eyes when he thought that cliché sentence but he couldn't really describe it any one other way. Or maybe 'Dumbledore is planning some devilish shit _again_' would fit better. Although that usually was used when describing him and the dark side. The dark side.

Diablos just about scoffed before reminding himself he was in the classroom and his students were just a few feet away working on their projects. Better keep anything negative in even if they were used to his temper. Hearing him mutter to himself wasn't news either. Having him glaring at the wall was something the students faced almost every day. Some days they wondered if he really was a woman in hiding with all his mood swings. He promised to do a joint-class with Salerna and a big test at the same time if they didn't behave. They shut up after that.

The man focused back on his papers. It was for the final exams and he was checking the questions one last time to see that they could be understood. He wasn't always good at forming sentences that sounded logical in someone else's brain than his own. He had had training over the years but it slipped his mind sometimes.

"Professor?"

He looked up and saw one of the female students look at him.

"Yes?" he answered.

"There's an owl outside the window."

Diablos turned to look. "Oh." He rose up and walked over to the window to let the owl in. "Thank you, Arielle."

The owl hopped onto his arm and held out a foot where a letter was attached. He removed it and the owl moved over to his shoulder, telling him she wasn't moving until she had a reply to go with. He shrugged and sat down, unfolding the letter.

_Sorry to use an owl you didn't recognize. I took the first best one. I didn't dare use the mirror at this point._

_Dumbledore is planning something. I don't know what yet, but he's gathering his forces around the manor. We need to plan an attack on the manor. We don't know the insides very well, but we have mapped out every stone on the outside._

_Should I stay and watch further? Tonks will report as soon as she could._

_Odium_

Diablos frowned. He didn't like when Dumbledore was planning something that had to do with gathering his forces. That could mean anything. He took out a scrap of parchment and scribbled down:

_Continue watching until tomorrow evening. Come to the manor then. We'll await Tonks' report if you haven't received it before you leave._

_D_

He sent the owl on her way and let the note burn to ashes in the palm of his hand. No evidence should be left behind. One of the first lessons he had learned when turning to the Dark side. No evidence to bind you to anything.

As long as you could do that, there wasn't much chance of being caught even if everyone had suspicions of who you were.

-o-

Exams for the Hogwarts students were approaching quickly. They started to occupy the library or any free space they could, surrounded by notes, books and endless frustration vibrating in the air.

Harry was quite confident he would do a good job. He had been preparing for months and could work in the same pace like before unlike some of the other students. He still didn't like Ron walking around with that stupid grin of his. Did the redhead ever do any work? Or did he, as Draco had said, skip class just to smirk at them? Harry was getting tempted at hexing him, just once. Maybe take away his mouth for a day or two, or give him an injury that would land him at home ahead of schedule.

Oh, he wanted so much but he didn't want to land himself in detention right before the summer holidays. He had rarely ended up in detention and never for hexing another student. He didn't want to have a letter to Diablos delivered with that fact. The man was enough stressed as it was, he didn't need his nephew to start hexing people at school. He probably wouldn't mind it but Harry didn't really want to do it right at this moment.

Okay so he did, but his mind said no. It was tempting but not worth it in the end. Doing that would lower himself to Weasley's level and he wasn't quite ready to step down so far yet.

Even if it was really, really tempting.

-o-

It was done. All the preparations had been done. The wards wouldn't be able to keep them outside. The wards wouldn't be able to keep them inside. They could sneak in, get what they wanted, and sneak out. The plan was perfect. It all was perfect.

Dumbledore would sneak into Hogwarts.

-o-

"Final exam done!" Draco said and stretched his arms above his head. He was walking down the hall with Hermione and Harry, the others having bustled off to meet up with the three later.

"I think I got everything right," Hermione said and worried her lip between her teeth as she checked over in her Transfiguration book.

"Come on, you'll get a hundred percent again, or more," the blonde said. "How'd go for you, Harry?"

"I think I did alright," the teen said. "Not a hundred percent-alright but manageable."

"Oh, I can't wait until I can lock the books away!"

"You still have to do homework during the summer," Hermione warned Draco.

"I know, I know, I'm just going to lock them away for a couple of days."

"Oh, no…"

They looked where Harry was looking and suppressed groans of their own. Ron Weasley stood further down the hall, grinning at them. He pushed himself off the wall and said:

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

"Shut it and stuff it, weasel," Draco said. "Don't you have anything better to do than show us your ugly teeth?"

"You won't be that stuck-up in a moment."

Before they had time to process that and wonder what the hell he was about a hand clamped over Hermione's mouth, another wrenched Draco's arm behind his back and an arm closing painfully tight around Harry's neck.

Dumbledore's men moved away, Ron smirking evilly. He made sure no one had seen it, the portraits in the hallway been spelled blind momentarily, and then walked down the hall like normal. He finally got back to them. Harry should regret not becoming his friend. They would all regret ever teasing him.

-o-

Diablos was putting on a battle-robe when one of the two-way mirrors warmed. It was from Tonks. He frowned and walked up to it, the others preparing as well. The woman's pale face showed up and she spoke quickly:

"I'm in the bathroom, I only got a minute on me."

"What? Are they moving out?"

They had planned to attack the manor in a half-hour but if the Light moved they had to change their plans.

"No, they are not," she said. "I just got word; I'm one of the guards. They have just taken three students from Hogwarts hostage. One of them is Harry."

Diablos went still. A familiar, old rage started to coil in the pit of his stomach. It slowly twisted his insides, and the blue of his eyes was drowned by the red.

"I… see…" he said. "Keep them safe the best you can until we can get to them."

"I'll protect them with my life," she swore. She looked back and swore. "I have to go. They are here."

"Thank you."

The mirror went blank. He put it down to the desk, feeling abnormally calm. That wasn't a good sign. It was never good when the rage pushed him to this tranquil state. His fingers stroke the wood and he felt the magic crackle at the surface, coming from the current building in his body.

"Diablos?"

Odium's voice broke through and Diablos turned his head slowly. The sight that met the man made his swallow.

Diablos' eyes were _wild_ and untamed. The wrath in them made him take a step back before he could stop himself. The magic was edging out but the smile that came out was what frightened Odium the most. Diablos never smiled like that. At least not since…

"That was from Nymphadora," he said and they looked at him. "Dumbledore has just taken Harry and two other students hostage."

The smile promised murder, blood splattering onto the earth and bowels ripped out of their warm cocoon.

-o-

When the cloth fell away from Harry's eyes he was staring right at Dumbledore.

Admittedly, another Dumbledore he remembered but he saw it was the old man. The Dumbledore from Diablos' time. Said man grinned down at them.

"Now when I have you here," he said, "Diablos will act irrational. You know, I can handle him when he is like that. It's when he's calm I can't get my head around him."

He crouched down in front of Harry who moved back. He met wall and felt Draco's arm press into his own. Their hands found each other's. He sought Hermione's, caught hers and she squeezed hard.

"He has been a thorn in my side for a long time," Dumbledore continued. "When he first came to Hogwarts, when he officially bore the name Harry Potter, I had such great expectations of him. To think he was nothing like I wanted him to be. He was… a _disappointment_."

"You're just pissed off he didn't let you control him," Harry spat. "You're nothing but an old man with crazy ambitions."

Dumbledore wrenched his head back, the roots of the teen's hair shrieking at the painful tug.

"I changed my mind," he hissed. "I thought of killing you first. But now I'll kill him, I'll drag his dead body in here and I'll let people have fun with him. Or maybe I should leave him alive, just barely, and have my way with him."

Harry's blood drained from his veins. He had heard little of the war in Diablos' time, but if to have your way with someone in a war sounded the way he thought it would be, he knew he wouldn't like it.

"We'll kill every single one of them," Dumbledore growled. "They'll all die at our hands. Yes, I will leave him alive. We'll kill him with what happens afterwards. What do you think?"

"You sick fuck!" Harry screamed and spit him in the face. "Don't you dare fucking touch him!"

"Oh, I will touch him. And you will look."

He banged the teen's head into the wall and walked away.

"Harry?" Draco managed.

"Oh, Harry," Hermione got out and hugged him. The blonde's head landed heavily on Harry's shoulder and he groaned.

"What's wrong?" the raven-haired teen asked, tears falling from his eyes without him noticing. He felt sick. Just the thought of _someone_ touching Diablos in a way the man wouldn't like made Harry want to puke.

"My arm…" Draco got out.

"Oh god!"

The girl caught sight of the arm, and Harry started to feel rage boil. It was a messy break, the bone stuck out of Draco's skin and the blonde was paler than usual. Harry moved on him, gently so that it wouldn't jar the arm and Draco buried his head into Harry's neck, tears falling slowly.

"I want my dad," Draco whispered. "I want him to come. I want dad."

"They will come," Hermione said, sounding strangely out of breath. She was trying to hold her tears at bay. Her hair was messier than usual but for once she didn't even spare it a moment. She strokes the teen's cheek, rubbed at the neck to ease Draco's pain. "They will come here. There's no way they'll leave us here."

The doors to the room banged open. For the first time Harry had a look around where they were. It was rather large, almost like a grand hall, with high in roof but barren walls. There was barely any furniture in there and any sounds made echoed horribly.

Dumbledore was back. Harry held Draco closer, trying to shield him. Then behind the man came a woman with violent pink hair.

"This is your guard. Any funny business and she'll Crucio you."

Hermione's lips quivered. Harry wished he had his wand but also knew he had left it by his bed this morning. Draco's and Hermione's were apparently taken.

Dumbledore laughed, it bounced off the walls and it made Harry sick and wishing he could ram a knife through his chest. He could see one of the eyes were missing and wanted to rip out the other one.

The former headmaster slammed the doors shut. The woman waited a few moments, the only sound Draco's harsh breathing and then she cast a spell. Harry recognized it as a privacy charm. She then stalked up to them and kneeled down. Hermione was ready to lash out when the woman took the broken arm gently and examined it.

"My name's Tonks," she said and looked up at their faces. Draco looked up as well; he recognized that name vaguely. Her eyes turned to the blonde teen. "My mother's name is Andromeda, Draco. Your mother's sister."

He turned to stare at her. Tonks grinned.

"Wotcher," she stated. "Alrightie. I'm in charge of taking you out of her. Diablos' been notified by me that you're here."

"Wha… wait," Hermione stammered. "You're… you're not with him?"

"With that fart? Merlin, no!" She removed Harry's slack arm from her cousin's shoulder and got him up on his feet. "I'm going to pull the bone back into place. Harry, Hermione, I need you to steady him."

The two were up in a flash and held Draco secure. He was starting to look a little grey and sweaty. Hermione hushed him as Tonks took a hold of the wrist, the other hand steadying his elbow.

"It's alright to make a sound," she said. "No one will notice. They'll think I kicked you or something."

She didn't wait for him to recover; instead with a swift pull the bone snapped back and Draco's legs buckled as he cried out in surprise and pain. Harry held his friend up and Hermione helped, their arms around his waist and torso. Tonks conjured bandages and splinters to keep the arm straight until someone could heal the break. Draco was recovering, the pain manageable but he didn't try moving his fingers too much. He let himself relax into his friends' arms and groggily opened his eyes when he felt the woman tighten the last bandage.

"Alright, let's get the hell out of here," she whispered. "Follow me, and let's hope nothing goes wrong."

-o-

Dumbledore felt the wards break. With a soar of rage in his body he was up and the Entrance doors flew open with his magic pressing against them. When he burst out he came to a stop at the sight.

The white mask. Those black robes with the thick sash that was in the same colour as blood. The braided hair. It was all so familiar. The sight of the youngest Dark Lord. The latest Dark Lord. The Dark Lord who had no wish to be one. Diablos. Diablos the devil, the Dark Lord after the fall of Voldemort. Such a nostalgic sight.

But something was missing.

The rage.

The uncontrollable wrath.

Diablos looked calmed, flanked by Odium and Arsenic, and behind them, Death Eaters and Voldemort of this time. There were two other men as well, one with his face hidden by a hood and the other with white hair and violet eyes. Salerna Maga. Dumbledore was still angry he hadn't managed to kill that man.

"So you have arrived?" the former headmaster said. "You sure you want to attack us with that pitiful army of yours?"

"We can do a lot more than you think," Diablos replied. "But first I wanted to introduce you to someone."

The man with the hood removed it. Dumbledore's face grew livid, quite suddenly, and he howled:

"Tom!"

Tom smiled and waved to the former headmaster. He was having way too much fun but couldn't stop his smile. It felt as if his face would split any minute to his fucking grin.

"Who knew our infamous Diablos knew how to make his way to a lost soul and collect it, even when he's in another time?" the man said as he came to stand right behind Diablos. "That shows he's ever evolving unlike you. You're just plain crazy."

The old was getting red-faced. But that was not what the raven-haired man was focusing on.

One of the Aurors on Dumbledore's side had been staring at Salerna for a while now. Diablos had no idea which branch he was in but he was looking too closely at his friend. Magic sparked between his fingers, sending sharp signals up his arm but before he could shoot off anything towards the man his mouth opened.

"Sir!" the Auror called out.

"What?"

"That white-haired one, he with violet eyes! He's non-human!"

That startled not only Dumbledore's side but also Diablos' side, and some heads turned to stare at him. Diablos looked over at him; he had known Salerna wasn't human for quite some time now. But only because the man had told him. So how the hell did the Auror know? It wasn't like it was seen on him. Except for the hair, might look a bit awkward on a young-looking man like him. Then again, Odium had almost the same shade on his hair but he was a known Undead to Dumbledore's side. Salerna was just, well, slow at aging. Salerna sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He looked over at Diablos helplessly. Diablos shrugged, saying he had to handle this on his own. The man sighed again and said:

"I knew someone would recognize me sooner or later. But it's kind of funny. What's so special about me? I'm non-human, so what?" He spread his arms. "It doesn't make me a monster."

"Freak!" someone screamed. It could have been Molly.

"Now, now," the man said with a grin. "One should be more respectful to your elder." Diablos rolled his eyes; he was having way too much fun to be really upset.

"How old are you?" Dumbledore asked, eyes narrowed.

"Please," Salerna said with his head tilted. "Only three hundred years old. I actually turned that a couple of months ago. Of course, I'm saying I'm turning forty to whoever asks. Wouldn't want anyone to believe I'm an old fart."

Dumbledore stared at the man. Three hundred years old. Over twice his age. And the man looked so young… it was annoying. He was a freak, a monster, a non-human who should not have human rights.

A yelp stopped any further talking. Diablos' eyes widened a fraction behind the mask and then Moody led Tonks forward.

"I found her trying to sneak away with our hostages," he sneered, his wand pressed into her throat.

Three others held the three teens. Lucius' face paled seeing the pain in his son's face and the sadistic expression on the man's face as he twisted the broken arm. Draco gasped and he began to hyperventilate.

"See here?" Dumbledore said. "I got something you want. If you attack, I'll kill them. Give yourself up nicely, and I'll give them a pain free death."

"You've forgotten something," Diablos said.

"And what's that?"

"We don't have our ward-breaker here with us. Nor his uncontrollable twin brothers from either time."

Dumbledore looked up and four Weasleys, two sets of twins, dumped their load onto the crowd. Potions and various other little trinkets fell down and people began to scream.

Diablos charged. Moody threw Tonks aside and shot off the first spell. Odium blocked it, leaving Diablos' way free. Tom was right behind the man. The Death Eaters followed Voldemort as he set off as well.

Harry, Hermione and Draco had been shuffled to the walls of the castle, guarded by one man. Harry and Hermione didn't care about that, they just set Draco's arm straight and Harry shielded his friend with his own body. The blonde had begun to shake from the shock and only half sentences came out of his mouth.

The sound of blade meeting blade came to Harry's ears and he turned to look.

His uncle was twisting, robes flying, perfect moves on uneven and unknown ground, holding his guard up against Dumbledore himself. The man may be old but he sure was strong. He moved almost as fast as Diablos and used only one sword. The other held his wand while Diablos was using swords alone. Or maybe there was magic involved, Harry knew his uncle could fight with swords and still do spells.

The air was filled with spells and sounds. The man guarding them was starting to stray further and further away from them, leaving them unprotected. Harry might manage a wandless shield but not for long and not against the spells used.

Then salvation came in the form of Tom and Lucius. The blonde fell to his knees and took his son. Draco hugged his father's neck tightly and Lucius picked him up. Tom hauled the two teens up and they snuck away along the wall.

The children were safe. Diablos whirled around one last time, now facing Dumbledore and held out his swords. The magic built up, buzzing along his nerves and muscles. The old man stopped as well.

"What are you waiting for?" Dumbledore snarled. The battle went on around them.

"You said once you wanted to see the real me," Diablos said. "No limits, no masks… just me and the raw Ancient Wizard blood flowing in my veins."

He had said it once. Diablos had never showed him. He had showed a portion, the portion of madness and insanity, the short-fused magic with explosive powers… but not the frightening, not the bone-chillingly power. Dumbledore wanted to see it. If it truly existed. To see that it was not just a stupid myth, a legend, a story told over the years so much it had been diluted with too many details.

Diablos smiled. He removed the mask and threw it aside. This had been the last time he would wear it. Now it could shatter for all he cared. Undoing the sash he slid the heavy black robes off him, leaving him in a tight, black top and leather pants with knee-high metal boots.

"I should warn you," he said with a grin. "This might make you piss your pants."

-o-

Harry felt it the moment it released. Everyone felt it. A different sort of magic. A magic older than their bodies and minds. He turned around.

Diablos tilted his head back, smiling widely as the confined magic was released. Blackness poured out around him, surrounding him, becoming a part of him, twisting shadows in the air. It was heavy and intoxicating. Not perhaps the strongest Dumbledore had felt but far more seductive. It wasn't the crazy energy normally resting around Diablos when he released. This was the real thing.

Blood made thick strands down his cheeks from his eyes, the eyes turning to a darker red. His pupils almost vanished in the depths. Diablos felt his breathing was heavy but didn't mind. It was a lulling heaviness. It was nothing like the crazy outbursts he had had when the anger got the better of him, no rage creeping up on him and making him dig his nails into his skin. Nothing but a sense of control, of deep control, and he felt a gentle smile come up on his face. He didn't mind. Everything felt great.

For a long time, magic had controlled him. Even in this time. It was few time he had done a full release, and this was the first time among a lot of people. He hoped he could keep the control. For now, it seemed impossible to loose it but you never knew in a battle.

Dumbledore took a step back as Diablos looked down again.

"What have you done?" the old man asked. All madness seemed to have escaped him, leaving him looking older than ever and so helpless. Maybe he knew it was the end. Maybe he faked it. Or he didn't notice he was doing it.

"Real power doesn't come from anger or rage," Diablos said and the shadows twisted along the ground, connecting with his legs and arms and hair. "Nor is it the same for everyone. I am merely showing my real power. My own, and no one else's. I will use it to end your life today, Albus."

He stretched up a hand to the sky and the shadows shot up, spread around them and the light of the day began to vanish from the ground. Dumbledore regained himself.

"Kill them!" he screamed.

Diablos was in front of him, having moved without them noticing and grabbed the front of his robes, throwing him aside. Dumbledore screamed as he hit the ground, rolled over a few times before getting to his feet. He directed his wand towards Diablos but the man shifted to the side as the spell ran past him, twisting and then shooting away a blackness, a shadow. Dumbledore moved away but it caught his ankle, causing him to fall and then he was screaming at the pain revolting inside of his body, spreading from where his ankle was caught. It was agony.

Diablos walked forward.

"There are few spells used in this form," he said. "It's all natural. The shadows are like a poison of agony and despair that we put upon people. It's maddening pain you can't stop. Once infested inside the body, it never leaves."

"Whaa…?"

"What I'm saying," the younger man said as he crouched down carefully next to Dumbledore, "it'll kill you so slowly you'll be begging for death before the end."

"Why… didn't you use this before?" The pain was getting harder to stand but it wasn't in his body yet. It was just that damn shadow wrapped around his ankle. If he got that one away, then he could fight again.

"I couldn't control it this well before," Diablos said. "The only one I ever have put this power under is James. You see, the shadows' effect change depending on how I want them to be. I manipulate them. For you, it's pain and agony and all kinds of things you don't want happening."

"And for James?"

"Think of it as a warm blanket wrapping you up at night," the man murmured. "He had nightmares the summer after I finished school. Just subtly I let my powers lull him to a calm sleep. However, I won't do it with you."

He rose up and the pain increased. Dumbledore couldn't focus on the others fighting anymore. He was moving erratically on the ground and Diablos was smiling again. It was sickening, and it made him feel fear. Dumbledore shouldn't feel fear. He hated fear. Yet he was terrified.

The shadows twisted. Dumbledore screamed and one of the shadows wound around his arm. With one great pull, with the other shadow holding him down, his left arm was ripped off.

Once Dumbledore started screaming Arsenic and Odium looked up. Blood moved with the arm in a great arc in the air for a moment before gravity pulled it down. Diablos was barely visible. The shadows began to creep up on the screaming old man and they both felt satisfaction deep in their cores. It was nearing the end.

Finally it was nearing the end.

Harry had seen the first limb detach from Dumbledore. Then he had turned his head away. Hermione had hugged him tightly and Draco was held up by his father. Lucius held the arm steady; he didn't know how to heal and it was making him angry and frustrated that his son was in pain and he couldn't do anything about it.

The fight was starting to ebb out. Dumbledore's screams echoed around them. Finally the voice was cut short. The silence afterwards was deafening. Then Harry removed Hermione, had Tom take her and started walking towards his uncle.

As he walked he ignored the fallen bodies and the blood. But he was changing clothes and shoes, and he might puke. He was not cut out for fighting like this. He wondered if Diablos had been in the beginning.

The shadows reared up, then fell and vanished into thin air and when Diablos turned to face him, he looked like normal. Except for a new sort of peace in his red-blue eyes. For the first time in a long time Harry could see the blue colour clearly. The blue meant things were fine.

It meant things would turn out just fine.

-o-

Draco was asleep in the couch, his father sitting crouched next to his son's head and stroke back the pale hair. His arm was healed and now bandaged to stabilize it a little while he was sleeping. Diablos had healed the break in a matter of minutes after they had left behind the ruined manor and its dead people.

Diablos himself was in one of the armchairs, barely awake. His powers had drained him. Harry had asked why. He hadn't used it that way ever a hundred percent so his body hadn't adjusted to the sheer stress of it.

The manor held the normal occupants along with Voldemort, the Lestranges, the Malfoys and Salerna had collected Cissi and Ginny. There had been some sort of celebration earlier but now many were tired after a trying day. Hermione had fallen asleep in an armchair; she would be going to her parents the next day. Odium had made sure to send owls to the trio's friends to assure them Harry, Hermione and Draco was all fine.

Harry couldn't believe it was over. It had been one hell of a year. He rested his head against Diablos' legs and relished in the peace.

It was all over.

-o-

**Epilogue**

June had just turned into July and it was a clear night. Harry wasn't sure where the others were but he was perfectly fine out on the balcony, watching the sky. It still felt a bit unreal that they didn't have to worry about Dumbledore anymore.

They had returned to the school to get their things and Ron hadn't smiled once. He had actually jumped in horror when he spotted Diablos. The man might have glared at him. Harry didn't get a chance to look and Diablos didn't give him a chance to ask.

Life had returned to a relatively normal pace again. Alright, so life was never normal with the Potters but as normal as they could get it.

"You should be asleep, you know."

Harry smiled. "What about you, Dia?"

"I'm a night owl," the man said as he came to stand next to his nephew. He was dressed in a light black robe with the necklace from James on top of it. He rarely took it off nowadays.

"Did you ever think of James as your father?" Harry asked.

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering."

They stood quiet for a bit.

"Did Sirius leave a lot of pranks?" the teen asked.

"Too bloody much of it. I had Fred and George seniors place twice the amount in his room."

"Twice the amount won't _fit_ in his room."

"Oh, I'm sure they figured it out. And that Sirius will hate me tomorrow."

"He's the forgiving kind," Harry reassured.

Diablos glanced over at him. The teen shrugged and continued:

"Or at least to some people. I'm sure you're on that list."

The man snorted and crossed his arms. Harry leaned onto the rail and looked out over the grounds, what little he could see. The grapes were soon to be picked and made into wine, or so Dora had decided. He wondered when Diablos would let him taste alcohol. When he was thirty perhaps? Harry might push it to twenty-five but he knew Diablos would prefer that the teen never started drinking.

"What are you thinking about?" Diablos asked.

"Lollipops."

"Really now?"

"Have you ever been in love?"

Diablos took a second look. "Harry, are you having a crush on someone?"

"What? No! I just asked!"

"Harry…"

"I do not have a crush!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am sure! Now can you answer my question?"

"What, you want to know your old man's sex-life?" Diablos challenged.

Harry blushed and hit him on the arm. "No, I just want to know if you have ever been in love!"

The man chuckled at his outburst and moved away when Harry raised a fist.

"I have never been in love, Harry," he said.

The fist lowered. "You haven't?"

"No, I haven't."

"Why not?"

"I've never been able to feel that kind of love," Diablos said with a shrug. "I can love my family and my friends… but not have a lover. Or at least I don't think I can."

"You don't want to?"

"No, not really. I have enough just keeping you guys in line, I don't need a lover on top of that."

Harry groaned. "Only you would make it sound like a burden."

"I'm quite sure Tom and Voldemort would both agree with me."

"They're special."

"And I'm perfectly normal then?" Diablos asked.

Harry flung his hand out and hit his uncle's stomach. Diablos danced further away. Ever since the battle, Diablos had been unusually giddy. His students were scared shitless of him. They jumped every time he started to hum while grading. It was good to build up their nerves he claimed. Due to his grin while saying this Harry didn't believe that was the main reason. He just wanted to scare the shit out of them.

A warm hand landed on Harry's arm and the raven-haired man said:

"Come on. It's time for you to get some rest."

Harry complied this time and let himself be led to his bed. Taking off his shoes he slid down under the sheets; he had been dressed for the night when he went outside.

"You want a goodnight-story?"

"Dad, I'm not a child anymore."

"I know. I'm just asking. James asked for one when you were newborn."

"You're kidding."

"Look at my face," Diablos said and leaned closer. "Does it look like I'm kidding?"

It didn't look that way.

"But… but surely he just asked that so he could tell it to me!"

"I've never heard him repeat that story to you. So I'm pretty sure it was to himself."

Harry laughed. He flopped down on the bed. "Thanks, but I don't need a goodnight-story tonight."

"Alright. I guess I'll head for bed too."

"Hey, dad?"

Diablos turned around in the door. He saw Coran curl up on the pillow next to Harry. The teen was looking at him, his eyes almost glittering in the dark.

"Yes, Harry?"

"Just… just be here. In case I ever need someone. Or in case I need a goodnight-story." Harry's eyes were dropping fast but the man knew the teen wouldn't sleep until he got an answer.

He smiled.

"I'm sure I'll be hanging around," Diablos said.

And he would.

For as long as Harry wanted him to.

Because that's what parents do.

End

* * *

This is the end of Chapter of a Lost Future, and probably the last time we'll read something about Diablos and Harry and the rest of the gang. I'm not planning a sequel of the sequel. You can imagine what the rest of their lives are like.

I know I am.

Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Until another time,

Ja,

Tiro


End file.
